More Chairs!

Garbage day is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week.  I was on my way to work a couple of weeks ago when I spotted these twins on the side of the road.  After pulling a quick U-turn, they were mine!  They were dirty beige with metallic gold highlights and had ripped/missing upholstery.  Lovely.

Chairs before.

So the same process goes as always...  remove the old seats (one wasn't even attached to begin with), sand, clean, and paint.  Fergie found the old seat to be a comfortable bed where she could lay and watch me paint.

Fergie!

The challenge with these chairs came in the upholstering of the seats.  One seat didn't have any foam or fabric on it at all.  After a quick trip to the craft store, I  came home with a one inch thick piece of foam ( only $5 after coupon, of course).  I traced the shape of the wood seat onto the foam and cut it out with my fabric scissors.

Foam

Then came the fabric...  I had several scraps of a fabric whose pattern was similar to the shapes of the designs on the back of the chair.  I pulled the gray color from the fabric as my paint color.  But unfortunately, with the small pieces of fabric that I had, if I centered the design on the seat the way I wanted to, it wouldn't cover the whole seat (see right side of photo below).

Ideal pattern placement.

I tried every conceivable way to make the pattern work with the pieces of fabric I had, but eventually I had to settle for Plan B (see photo below).

Final pattern placement.

Although not my first choice, it still looks great on the finished seat!

Finished seat.

And here's the final result...

Chair after.

I had originally planned on selling these chairs, but I am in love with the finished results, and they have somehow found a place in my bedroom.

At home in my bedroom.

Plus, the gray paint on the chairs is a perfect match for the $20 gray quilt I recently "splurged on" from Christmas Tree Shops!

New gray quilt and pillow shams layered under comforter.

Side Chair Makeover

I found this castoff on the side of the road while driving home from work one day.  Other than needing new fabric on the seat and having some damage (animal chew mark?) to the center stretcher (the bar near the floor), it was a solid piece.  I love the shape of the back of the chair.  It's not a common design that you seen very often.

Chair before.

I unscrewed the seat from below and removed it so I could reupholster it later.  I lightly sanded the whole piece to remove the shiny finish.  I also sanded out the divot from the bite marks as best I could before painting the whole chair white.

After a couple coats of white paint.

While the paint was drying, I turned my attention to the seat.  I removed the bits of blue fabric that were left around the edges, but left the yellow vinyl intact to contain the stuffing.  I cut a piece of batting slightly bigger than the seat and stapled it to the underside of the seat to add some cushioning and smooth out the seat before covering with my fabric.

 

Underside of seat.

You might recognize this fabric from the antique barrel chair I did last summer with matching red-orange velvet.  This is my second and last piece of it, which was a free sample I got while in school.  I absolutely love it, but it matches nothing in my own home, so someone else will get to enjoy it when I sell it.

Seat cushion after.

I simply screwed the seat back on when the paint was dry, and here you go!

Chair After!