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Friday, April 27, 2012

How to Reupholster a Chair

I am finally getting around to revealing my newly reupholstered chairs! Sorry it took song long to post this but it took me a while to do this post. My mom came down over the weekend and we reupholstered my new chairs that I bought. I was a little nervous at first because this was our first time reupholstering anything. It was a success though! 

So what started out like this....


Now looks like this!


I am so proud and could not be happier with the way they turned out! It was a little time consuming and we ran into a few hiccups {like most DIY projects}. So I figured I would document how we did this so that hopefully if anyone else decides to reupholster a chair like this one, I may save them from a little stress! I am by no means an expert but hopefully this will make someones life a little easier! Prepare yourself...this post is long. I am a very thorough person, so I have a hard time condensing things!



How to Reupholster an Armless Chair


Supplies


- stapler 
{I promise you want to buy an electric stapler! I wish I had! 
If not, prepare to have blisters and feel like your hands are going to fall off!}
- 1/2" staples
- sharp fabric scissors
-  screwdriver and/or staple remover
- pliers
- durable string
- large tapestry needle
- straight pins
- Stitch Wizardry
- button making kit
-fabric {I used 4 yards}
- Fabri-Tac


Step 1: Remove the black polyester covering from the underside of the chair. This will only be the beginning of removing millions {okay maybe not millions but it sure felt like it} of staples.You may choose to lay a sheet on the floor to prevent staples from being lost in the carpet.


Step 2: Once the bottom covering is removed {save this}, begin removing the piping by removing more staples {Save the piping.You can take the existing fabric off and use the piping to make your own.} I found that sometimes it was easiest to pull the staple up partially with the screwdriver then pull it out the rest of the way with the pliers.


After much hard work, you will have a few staples. Ha!

 
Clemson enjoys DIY projects too!
Step 3: Once you have the piping removed, you will be able to remove the back from the chair. Ours was attached with some type of metal stripping with tacks. I was able to stick the screwdriver up under the edge and pull it up. Then you could just pull it up the rest of the way from there. 

Okay, let me just go ahead and say I took a short cut and didn't remove the fabric from the seat or from the chair back. I put my fabric over it and you couldn't see through since the fabric is a thicker upholstry fabric. The chair was new so there wasn't any reason to remove the fabric if you couldn't see it. If the chair had been older then I would have removed all of the fabric. So this saved a lot of time because that meant less staples to remove. If you were to remove these you would remove the chair back and then the seat. Then proceed to my next step.

Step 4: Now you are ready to start cutting out your fabric. I knew I wanted the patterns to match on both chairs. So I laid the fabric over the chair seat the same way on both chairs and then cut the fabric to the size it needed to be. If you are doing this too, be sure that there is enough fabric to cover the other pieces too. It depends on the repetition of the pattern. This was just one of those things that I had to play with.


Since I had the back fabric off of the chair, I used it to cut out those pieces. If you remove all of the fabric, then you can do this for all of the pieces.


Step 5: Iron all of your fabric pieces before you start putting them on the chair.

Step 6: I started with the seat. This is where we had a little trouble getting the fabric to smooth out on the side. Of course, since I was so distracted with our issue, I didn't get a picture of it while we were doing it. Go figure... So I took a picture after it was done and drew arrows where to cut, and I am going to do my best to explain it.


For this step, only pay attention to the blue arrows. Before the fabric is tucked in you will have to cut slits in it where the blue arrows are located. Once the fabric is tucked into the back you will not be able to see where the slits were cut. You have to be very careful when doing this not to cut too far, because if you do then you will have a slit in the seat. So you want to cut it just far enough that you can pull the fabric around the sides and smooth it out. I would start with a tiny slit and the pull it back and then cut again, repeating this until I got it smooth.You may have to cut one more slit more on the outer edge if the fabric won't smooth. Just be very careful not to cut too far. Remember, small cuts!!! Once it is smoothed pull it around the back and staple it.


Don't mind my crazy stapling. They will be covered up with the back. It would have been a lot easier, if I had an electric stapler. I read on another tutorial that they recommended one but thought, "Nah, I don't need one." Boy did I change my mind after stapling 5 million times. I had a blister on my hand and it is really hard to use that stapler since it took all of my strength to staple. 

Step 7: Now you want to fix the front corners. I pulled mine to overlap and secured them with staples. Keep the staples as close to the edge as possible. This will help when putting the piping on. 



Step 8: The next thing you want to do is make your buttons with the button making kit. Really simple, and it comes with the instructions. You also need to clip the old buttons from the chair by clipping the strings found through the back of the chair. 

Step 9: To attach the seat back, I put the buttons on first. I used the buttons to stabilize the fabric to the back before I pulled it tight and stapled it to the back. This is where you are going to use the tapestry needle and durable string. Thread the needle with the string. There should be preexisting holes that you can use to thread the needle through. Have your fabric on the seat back and push the needle through from the back. Once through, put the string through the button and then go back through the chair. Tie a knot and secure it tight to the chair by stapling.

 Once all four buttons are on, you can begin pulling it around the sides and the top tight until you get it smooth, stapling and securing it. 


Now for the next part, you are going to pretty much do what you did when you did the seat.


This time you are going to look at the red arrows. You will make a slit before tucking in the fabric about where the red arrows are. This will help you get the fabric tight and smooth. Once the slit is cut, you can tuck in the middle and pull it through the back and staple it. Then the fabric that is on the outside of the slit that is still untucked will need to be turned under then pulled tight to the back and stapled.

Step 10: Once that is done you are ready to work on the back. First you can staple the batting back to the chair. Then you are going to want to turn the edges under on the back fabric piece using Stitch Wizardry. 



Then pin the back fabric piece to the back of the chair with straight pins. 


Then I decided to use Fabri-Tac to glue the back on the chair rather than try using those metal strips with tacks again. I just took out a few pins at a time and ran a small bead of the glue along the edge. Then I held it for about 30 seconds and stuck the pins back in while it dried. 




Step 11: Now you are ready to do the piping. Make your piping by removing the old fabric from the old piping. Then sew your fabric around the piping.


Then starting in the back, start stapling the piping to the underside of the chair. When you get to the chair leg, cut as close as possible to the stitching and then pull around the outside of the leg.


Step 12: Once the piping is on. Attach the black polyester covering over the underside of the chair. And your chair is complete!!!





Good Luck if you decide to reupholster a chair and hopefully this tutorial will help. I am so happy that I made this purchase and took this risk. It felt great to do something new and to succeed! This was a great excuse to have my parents and my little sister come visit me too! I have to say thank you to my sweet mama! She is the best! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

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Friday, April 20, 2012

Happy Friday

I just thought I would stop by real quick to give a few updates.

First, we got our couch yesterday. I could not be more pleased with it! Here is it is!


Second, my mom and dad will be here tomorrow. So we will be working on recovering the chairs for the living room! Everything is coming along! Not too much more to do, and then I will share everything!

Last, my little sister's {Mattie} best friend, Abby, had her twins today! They were precious little girls! Tiffany Leigh weighed 5 lbs 5 oz. and Victoria Grace was 5 lbs 7 oz. Great size for twins! I can't wait to see them in person! Congratulations Jack and Abby!

Well I hope you all have a great weekend! We are off to some friends for our monthly dinner {American April}! See you next week!

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Monday, April 16, 2012

A Great Find

Happy Monday! Hopefully you are enjoying your day so far. I wanted to stop by and update you on the living room makeover. When I started looking for furniture, {since we have nothing to sit on} I knew I wanted a sofa and then 2 upholstered chairs rather than a sofa and loveseat. Here are a few pictures that I have been using for inspiration. 

via Pinterest
 In this first photo, I love the neutral sofa and the gray. I like how bright the room looks.

via Pinterest
 In this photo, I like the way they have a sofa across from two chairs. I like the coffee table in the middle of them and the use of a round table between the two chairs.

via The House of Smiths

via The House of Smiths
I love the way The House of Smiths has used this same set-up as the picture before. A sofa across from 2 chairs.  I also love her color scheme, a huge inspiration for my new color scheme.


So I already told you that we bought a sofa over spring break and it will be delivered this Thursday! As far as the chairs go, all of the ones that I had found that I liked were somewhere in the range of $200-$300 each! Yikes! So I decided that it would probably be a while before we were able to get any chairs. Here are a couple of the chairs that I like. 

$269.99 at Target

$269.99 at Target


 I decided to go out looking around last week, not for anything in particular but just to kill some time {I sit at home alone ALL day! I have to find things to occupy my time! Sometimes that means window shopping.}.  So I went by Ross and Marshalls first. I am looking in the furniture section at Marshalls when I spot 2 upholstered chairs with RED stickers on the tags!!! If you are a bargain shopper like me then you know what the color red means, CLEARANCE! So I go over and the tag says $50!!! I absolutely can not believe it! 



 The print is not what I am going for but for this cheap, I think I can reupholster them to match my decor. So I send a picture to my mom and ask if she thinks we can reupholster them, of course she says yes. Since I was in the Yaris that day, I knew I would not be able to get them home. So I got them to hold them until Ben got home and then we went and got them. I am so excited and satisfied with this purchase!



I seriously thought we were only going to have a sofa for a while. Little did I know, I would stumble upon a great deal like this! Like I said before, the fabric on the chairs was not what I was going for. I found some fabric that I am going to use to recover them at Fabric.com. It was only $7.98 a yard, which is really cheap for home decor fabric. I only needed 4 yds and I got a 13% discount so it ended up only being $27.77 for the fabric! So I got 2 upholstered chairs for $135 total and that's after tax! The fabric is really bold! It is by Premier Prints called Suzani  in Corn Yellow.

Suzani Corn Yellow

 I ordered it and it should be here by the end of the week. I love it! My sweet mama is going to come down for the weekend to help me recover these chairs! This week is a big week...new sofa, recovering chairs, making pillow covers for the new sofa! I can't wait to reveal everything to you!



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Saturday, April 14, 2012

Greek Salad

I decided to drop in and share one of mine and Ben's favorite recipes. We were inspired by a Greek salad that we ate at a Mediterranean restaurant called Neptunes on our honeymoon in Jamaica. We loved it so much that we ate there several times. Ben asked the waitress what type of dressing it had and she said it was some type of garlic-lemon vinaigrette. Once we got back home we decided to come up with our own recipe for a Greek salad.  We never did find a garlic-lemon vinaigrette, but we did find a Greek vinaigrette. So we went with it, and this is what we came up with.

Ingredients

2 cucumbers
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1- 4 oz container of feta cheese
1- 2.25 oz can of sliced black olives
3 Tbsp Greek vinaigrette


 First, you are gonna cut up all of the vegetables. I peel my cucumbers and then slice them into fourths. Then, I cut the peppers up into little squares.



It doesn't really matter what order you add this together. Notice I had already added my olives before adding the peppers. Drain the can of olives and add them to the bowl. Then add the feta cheese. 


Last, you add the 3 Tbsp of Greek vinaigrette and toss everything until coated. And Voila! Your salad is ready! Enjoy!



 I hope everyone is enjoying your weekend. I have been a busy little bee. Of course, Ben is studying...story of my life! So I have been busy trying to get as much done for our living room makeover before our couch arrives this Thursday! Ahhh...so excited!!!I can't wait to share!


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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Everyday Shelf Decor

Finally, a reveal of one of my many projects that I have been working on!!! Since I have had my shelves, there has pretty much been a holiday every month to decorate them for. Finally we have reached an in-between time where they need to be decorated for everyday living. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have decided to change my color scheme in my living/dining room to aqua, yellow, and gray. So when I decorated my shelves, I went ahead with those colors in mind. Although the rest of the living room was still in the previous colors. Now, there isn't anything in the living room except the end tables and the coffee table. So we are good to go!


I bought a grapevine wreath at Michael's with a 40% off coupon. So I got it for $2.99! I sprayed it with some yellow spraypaint that I already had. Then I made the rosettes out of some gray felt that I also had. Tutorial found here. The white birdcage came from The Christmas Tree Shops. It was also $2.99. I had actually bought it a while back and wasn't sure what I was going to do with it.


For the M picture I bought an unfinished frame and painted it gray. Then I cover the back with a piece of burlap. The color of the burlap wasn't working for what I was trying to achieve, so I spray painted it gray. I also spray painted the M. I sprayed it a dark brown first and then with the blue. Once it dried, I sanded it in a few places to rough it up. 


 Here was my inspiration...

Found on Pinterest

Found on Pinterest
And here is mine!




 I found the little pots that are on the top shelf at Michael's for .79 each. They were clay pots and can you guess? I spray painted them! Ha! I obviously use a lot of spray paint. I feel like I say that in every sentence! I knew I wanted something to go in them, so I thought I would put some twine on a styrofoam ball and stick it in the top. But then a light bulb went off...why not use an actual light bulb?! When we moved in our house, we switched out most of the light bulbs to CFLs, so we have a whole box of light bulbs in the garage. Styrofoam balls can be kinda pricy or at least I think they are pricy for styrofoam and I love it when I can use something we already have. So I hot glued twine to the light bulb and then spray painted them blue.



I love the way they turned out! I can't wait to get my living room finished! 

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