6.14.2011

Reupholstering.

Originally, I found our set of seven dining room chairs on Craigslist. They were vintage, had avocado green seats, and were only $20. Aka, they were right up my alley. Well, when I showed up at the seller's house, it turns out there was a major typo and the price was actually $20 per chair. The guy thought I was trying to pull a fast one on him when I said the ad stated "Dining Room Chairs - $20" After going back to his computer, and realizing he should have never asked his teenage son to create the ad for him, he offered $40 for the set. And he even threw in a child's wicker rocking chair for free. SOLD.

So the chairs have been doing their job for the past few months. But in a really annoying and shitty way. The bottom piece of wood that holds the whole seat in place was basically disintegrating before our very eyes and every time someone sat down, the chair would drop major sawdust all over the floor. Plus, the seats were totally flattened out and any life in those cushions had been squashed many years ago. Boyfriend and I were over that shit and decided to reupholster those mofos.

BEFORE:




Tip for taking the fabric off to get the original wood template: DO IT OUTSIDE. That shit is messy. The years of wear and tear on those seats turned the padding into what looked like a shitload of crunched up Cheetos.

We took the wooden template to Home Depot and purchased new cuts of wood. Boyfriend then used a jigsaw to make the shape of the chair frame.

Then we went to Joann's Fabrics for the padding, batting, and fabric. Originally, we went with a burnt orange color upholstery fabric, but when I got it home I realized it sucked. Did you know you can EXCHANGE fabric? Crazy, I know. So, I went back to Joann's and chose a patterned print from the "Outside Canvas" section.

From start to finish, four chairs done in one day.

AFTER:


The print may not be your thing. But seriously, you can't argue with all that padding.

This is the video we watched as a tutorial.



It was really easy and ended up costing roughly $42 per chair (chair, wood, padding, batting, and fabric) for a a matching set of brand new dining room chairs.

Go buy some old chairs this weekend and try it. You'll love the end result or my name isn't Martha Stewart.

In other nonsense, check out my latest post at Sprocket Ink where I discuss cheating husbands who happened to be named Weiner.


22 comments:

Jess said...

I love the fabric.... great job!

the Tsaritsa said...

Love how you revitalized those old things! Hopefully they're more comfy now.

Alli said...

Impressive. Most impressive.

Mrs. C said...

I love that fabric! We have some chairs that need redone - you may have just given me the inspiration for this weekends project

Alicia xoxxo said...

Wow! I am really impressed!!! Looks amazing!!!

Veronica M. D. said...

Good job!! I had a chair with a seat pad and a back cushion that I re-finished and then I reupholstered the bottom part, and then cut the fabric for the top piece too small and got angry and quit ... this was three years ago.

M. Hicks said...

Really nice job, and good for you on not letting Craig's list guy sucker you in, too!

Sara Louise said...

I love the pattern and all that padding

Anonymous said...

It's amazing how a change in fabric can make it look like a whole new chair! I've been toying with the idea of doing a few DIY projects...reupholstering being one of them.

Unknown said...

Love your happy fabric! I have one just waiting to be done--gotta get to that soon...

Sofie said...

Hey Sashini, this sounds a lot like my posts!! Love the crunchy cheeto description. xo

Crying is the New Croquet said...

Nice! Invite me over so my kids and I can ruin them.

also,

"I'm going to write your mother a letter, telling her you're a whore." - Martha Stewart

MRanthrope said...

My grandpa was super handy man and would make/fix and yes, reupholster things all the time. Now he's older and just (rightfully so) chills. Guess I should start taking notes from that video.

Erin said...

*sigh* I am jealous. Can't seem to rally the energy for DIY projects these days. LOVE the flowery fabric.

Logical Libby said...

My ass is seriously jealous right now. It's just sitting on a non-awesome chair.

Simone said...

LOVE! will you do my chairs? seriously. I'll hire you. how much?

drollgirl said...

dude! it looks SO GOOD! major improvement! WELL DONE!!!!

FoOd FaNaTiC said...

WOW~ Looks like a brand new chair!!

Ally said...

My friend did the same thing recently. Don't hate, but I love the original color and fabric actually. For some reason I'm all about avocado and pistachio colored stuff. But you did an awesome job! I haven't done any DIY projects like ever, it must feel so great to look at your before and after and realize, "Hey, I did that. Yeah boyeeee! I rawk!" :) Very cool!

Cake Betch said...

First of all, that is an amazing job. That looks really awesome. If I had chairs in my house I would try that. Well, I have chairs, but those basically just function as 'surface space to hold shit'.
Also: "The years of wear and tear on those seats turned the padding into what looked like a shitload of crunched up Cheetos." <~~ LOLOLOL. You need to write instruction manuals.

Deborah said...

Love that fabric. And I have now favorited this video because I bought a table and chairs from Craig's List (love that guy hehehe) and need to reupholster my chairs as well.

It is added to the list of crap I need to do and probably won't get to until fall. If ever.

Ha!

Anonymous said...

You are a brave mystical creature. Adam and I replaced the outdoor carpet on our boat before we sold it and I swore I'd never recarpet anything ever again. Glad to hear it came out well AND you didn't kill each other in the process.

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