I wanted to share my first experience in reupholstery!
She was quite a job but OH so worth it in the end. I've found my new obsession! Reupholstering is now what I want to do. That and painting old furniture. I'm so DONE with wood and want to paint everything in my house that is wood now. Starting with my Kitchen Cabinets. (Insert look of horror on my husbands face!)
Ok, so let's start with the chair. Found this little treasure at a local thrift shop. I was drawn to how big she is. She is extra wide. I like that. AND she has beautiful legs. I LOVE LOVE clawfeet legs. Her legs were loose and wobbly but my very smart and thrifty hubby fixed that right up! I've never reupholstered anything beyond an ottoman before, so this was going to be a mystery job.
I started by removing all of the existing upholstery. Holy Hannah! there were a LOT of staples... lot. Many Blisters and about four hours later and this is what she looked like..
not a pretty sight....
She was originally created with foam rubber which had degraded and turned into an aweful ORANGE gritty dust. Very messy job. Some of that dust is showing on the white batting. I left the white on there and covered it with a egg crate foam mattress pad and some more batting to make it nice and full.
I upholstered this with a painters cloth. I learned about Painters Cloth from Miss Mustard Seed's blog. (i have a secret crush on this mustard lady... WOW to have that type of talent and creativity!!) This is a great cost effective way to reupholster furniture if your into white. I'm going to do this again and try dying the cloth a different color since white really doesn't work in a house with Black Labs (who shed like NOTHING!!) Preparing the cloth is very important. It starts out dingy brown/yellow and pretty crispy. I bleached this cloth lots. and i mean LOTS. Two cups bleach in a cold full washing machine and let it sit for several hours. I did this three different wash cycles and then washed it with just detergent and dried on high. It turned out very soft and a beautiful winter white color.
The first step is removing the existing upholstery as best you can because you use the pieces as a pattern for the new covering. Remember to mark the pieces so you know their placement on the chair. I used a Sharpie and just drew all over them explaining how they go. What's up and down, how it was wrapped around the chair etc. AND I took lots of pictures I could refer back to to make sure I could see how it was done originally.
In a job like this your stapler is your friend. A forgiving fabric that stretches and a stapler make this pretty easy. It's amazing what you can pull off. I initially wanted to paint a Damask design on her but had a hard time finding a good template to follow. The Cricut cartridges we own had this beautiful square design with vines and leaves that turned out beautiful. I'm kinda a HEART freak so had to incorporate a heart in there too. It was a spur of the moment decision on what to paint but I am very happy with the end result. Sometimes you just have to not THINK too much!! just go with it... right?
I used Acrylic Paints with Textile Medium to make it a permanent fabric paint. I then started cutting out the pieces and attaching them.
This is the finished product. She's just beautiful! I hate to get rid of her but am sure she will be cherished by her new owner!!
