Revamped Chairs

Last weekend, Rick and I went up north to visit my family, celebrate Rick’s birthday and relax. Relaxing at my family home typically involves a project. My Mom, Rick and I went to an estate sale and we scored a lot for 25 dollars, including vintage linens, a small embroidered picture, this great book, and two chairs. We are slowly making updates to our office and we were in dire need of new office chairs. Rick found a mid-century industrial chair for $5, made in Texas and I found a beautiful antique oak chair for $40 that I wheeled and dealed down to $15.

While Rick was out with the guys wine tasting my Mom and I went to downtown Paso Robles to this great fabric store and found fabric for the two different chairs.

For the oak chair I picked out a folksy – Americana style pattern. I decided to not paint the chair because I loved the grain in the wood and slight imperfections from the craftsmanship. I decided to hand embroidered some of the fabric to add depth and character. I spent most of Saturday night around the fireplace hanging out with my family needplepointing (Rick even took turns and helped). The next day my Dad helped rebuild the original wooden seat insert to make it stronger and Rick, My Mom and I all gathered around tucked and stapled on the new fabric.

The office chair turned out a lot easier than it looked. It just took some time. Honestly, I was just going to take it to my upholstery guy but when I walked out to the garage Rick had already started removing parts. It just took tugging and ripping apart and my great helpers. For the fabric I wanted a quirky design. I fell in love with this collection from Sarah Watson called Indian Summer, something about it called out my name. I used animal faces for the chair back and teepee design for the seat. I am so in love with my new office chair. It’s comfortable and now very personal.

I do need to add trim to the chair back parts. To cover the gap. I think I might go for an off white color or pop like turquoise.

Now, just to find Rick a new office chair, the search continues…

Big Thanks to my parents and Rick.

P.S. I am sorry for the lack of photos (including, the “before” photos), I was a bit too excited and forgot to take photos of the progress.

A few tips from me to you for upholstery:

Splurge on good quality fabric that will hold up overtime.
Outdoor fabric may be used inside and is great if you have kids.
Use existing batting or padding but if the piece has lost structure you can add to the seating by spending under ten dollars, worth it.
When unscrewing, removing nails and staples be sure to not lose the original hardware, especially from a vintage chair because this could be hard to replace. Keep all your parts gathered in one place such as a Ziploc bag.
Get a friend to help you pull and tuck the fabric or be the one that staples the fabric back on. This will save you a headache.
Iron your fabric. Thanks for teaching this to me Mom.
After stapling on your fabric secure by hammering in staples.

Antique Oak Chair for 15 dollars 7 dollars in fabric = 22 dollars for a lovely accent piece made with a lot of love.

Mid-Century Industrial chair for 5 dollars 22 dollars in fabric = 27 dollars for an awesome chair