Yay! She is all done!
The back view;
Just to refresh your memory, she was a $20 Craigslist find and this what she looked like.
First I prepped the chair for the makeover aka. removed the nail head trim, the staples, and the upholstery. Then I gave it an antique paint finish with Annie Sloan chalk paint. Last week I showed you how I re-upholstered the back rest.
For the seat cushion, I followed this tutorial from Design Intervention. The only thing I would like to add is don’t cut the triangles for the corners of the seat cushion ahead of time (from the template). Lay the fabric on the chair and then cut the triangles. I cut the triangles ahead of time and when I laid it on the seat the corners did not match. I had such a hard time trying to align them. There were even some gaps which were luckily covered by the double welt cording (I’ll show you how to make the cord in the next post or so).
I had planned on using nail head trim throughout like in the original version. But soon realized that it wouldn’t work! Whoever had upholstered the chair earlier had no clue of what they were doing! On the sides and the back they had stapled the upholstery all the way down into the wood (where the nail head trim is now)! You can see it better in this shot.
The staples should have ended where the raw wood was (where the cording is) instead they were where the nail head trim is now. There was no way I could have used two layers of nail head trim! Why did I even think that this would be an easy project? Don’t I have a history of running into issues midway? Anyways Plan B was to make the double welt cord (tutorial coming up soon). I would need a better sewing machine for that! Long story short I got a new sewing machine, a Brother XL2600I
So I used the welt cord to cover up the staples and the nail head trim (which by the way is super easy, you have to hammer in only every fourth one) to hide their mess.
For a sewing novice, nailing that double welt cord was such a huge ‘Eureka moment’!
For my first chair makeover, I’m totally happy with how it turned out!
What do you think?
Source Details
Annie Sloan Paint & wax – $10 (I might have used an eight of the paint and a smidge of the wax. So I’m guessing $10 worth of those.) Nail head trim – $9.99 – JoAnn’s (was $19.99, used a 50% off coupon) Cording – $3.59 – JoAnn’s Bird Fabric -$13.98 for 2 yards on sale- JoAnn’s Chevron Fabric – $2.99 for 0.5 yards on sale -JoAnn’s Chair -$20 – CraigslistTotal :$61
PS: Want to read more about the chair story? Here: Part I, Part II, Part III
Looks great.
Thanks Ruth!
The chair looks fantastic! Great job!
Thank you Meera.
Wow! What a find…. love the print and the before and after is FAB!
Coming from such a creative gal like you that is so huge!!!! THANK U Beckie! Love your Roadkill Rescue posts! So glad you stopped by. 🙂
Vidya
You know I was waiting for the final view. Just love this chair to pieces.
🙂 Thanks Sue.
IT’s so pretty! Great job.
Thank you Jae!
Love, love, love this chair re-do. Love the fabrics and your choice of patterns and all the attention to detail. Job well done! liz
Thanks a lot Liz!
Vidya
Love the chair. So pretty and fun.
One thing that made me laugh was when reading your cost of materials, I was thinking: new sewing machine, $80! It makes me laugh because sometimes I want to do a project to “save” money, and it doesn’t always do that for me, but then I can make it like I want. And with your mad sewing skills, I’m sure you’ll be using your new machine for all kinds of stuff!
Thank you Sarah! We’ve been toying with the idea of getting a new sewing machine for sometime now. Especially after all the trouble I had making the felt circles pillow, we knew this was coming. The chair makeover just made it happen sooner. I don’t really see it as the cost of this one project in particular as I’m sure I’ll use it more often now that it is so easy to sew.
Vidya
Yes, it’s much more than one project, and I look forward to seeing the things you do with it! (It just made me chuckle because of my own experiences…)
When I saw the fabric you chose just sitting there, I wasn’t sure, but once they were on the chair, I saw where you were going. It is beautiful. I think I have to start looking at Craig’s List.
I love the idea of repurposing furniture that you find for a “deal” and making something so beautiful out of it. I myself salvaged my daughter’s nicked desk actually me n Mohan we both sanded and then repained it and now it is being used by her in our new house. We did not have to buy a new one 🙂 I’d love to do a reupholstering project very well done Vidya especially looking at cording–a new word for me and it turned out very even no idea how you got it done so fine without any creases…nice wok Vidya 🙂 Maybe I’ll need more detailed explanation of how it needs to be done. Whenever I take on reupholstering project I’m gonna bug you for more details I’m sure.
Thank you Neeta. Once you discover the joy of saving furniture it is hard to turn back. No worries on the upholstering projects. Once you have all the supplies and the piece in front of you it will all make sense.
Vidya
thanks, I could give a makeover to my dinner chairs!. Nice detailed step-by-step on how to do it. Keep inspiring us :))
Would love to see yours when they are done. Do send me the pics.
Vidya