Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Recovered the Dining Chairs

It was high time I recover the dining chairs.  We have only one dining set and it is a family heirloom and we love it ...being that it is the only dining set in the house we use it every day.  I had been pretty lucky about keeping the chair's upholstery in good repair until January when it seemed everything landed on the chairs and by landed I mean the chairs were;  peed on (not by me...), drawn on,  poured on, there was the great chocolate cake debacle and finally the stain of all stains homemade butternut squash soup (Made especially for Fin by our dear friend Kadra - we LOVE it!).   The soup is a most delicious and naturally highly pigmented substance which was the last stain to land on the old upholstery.

After a quick trip to Hancock Fabric I picked out a great material from the remnant pile.  It was $39.99 a yard but since it was a pattern from a few years ago I picked it up for $5.00  a yard and this time I bought extra in case another catastrophic spill warrants a recover.  The whole tally came to $16.00 and I have more than I need left over...so I'm thinking pillows for the outdoor area.

Tools of the trade include a screw driver, staple gun, staples and hammer.

It really is not rocket science to recover chairs...

The butternut stain for posterity.



First you remove the seats from the chairs with the screw driver ....

The honeymoon set. See the hearts in the chair backs & buffet doors?

Then you take out your material and lay it out on a flat surface and measure out your covers....


Material from Hancock Fabric remnant pile

I ONLY IRON when it's necessary - when sewing it's necessary.


Lay the chair back on the material and then fold the material over to cover the edges so you don't leave an edge to fray ... then use the trusty staple gun with "upholstery staples" ( they're longer) to attach the material to the back side of the chair.  I chose a material pattern that does not have an up or down which made it easy to cover.  You have to be more picky with stripes or florals that must have a visual accuracy....I won't even go there!

Fold over your edges before stapling.

Ta Daaa.  See it's that easy.


This time I bought Scotch Guard ... and once all the chairs were covered I took the seats outside and sprayed the snot out of them and let them dry and sprayed them again!





And here my friends is the final project.  



It's all about changing the material on a whim with a shoestring budget that way you don't sweat the dinner party spills.  Life is too short to obsess over stains I say!  Re purpose, redesign,  and be creative!






1 comment:

carla said...

Awesome Ships!!! LOVE the fabric that you chose and you've inspired me to repurpose a couple of pieces that were gonna end up in the bin on the other end of our move!!! MWWAH!! xx