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Midwest #20: The "Magazine Chair" Project

Name: Rasa
Location: Suburban Chicago
Time: 1 day (drying time included)
Cost: About $10: school desk ($3), spray paint, spray glue, 1 yd of fabric ($1), scrap paper (free), scrap foam (free), scrap thin rope (free)

Rasa came up with a super flexible do-over - DIY removable chair slipcovers for when you want to switch things up...very smart! All the pics, tools, how-to and VOTING are below...

2008-02-06-before.jpg

BEFORE

Tell us the tools and resources you used for the project:
Tools:
1. Reciprocating saw + safety gear
2. Scissors
3. Sewing machine

|Materials:
1. School desk with potential from thrift store
2. Bucket, sponge, water and soap
3. Silver spray paint (or the color of your choice)
4. Spray glue
5. Some sort of ground covering (ex. old sheets. old shower curtain, tarp)
6. Scrap paper and writing utensil
7. Scrap foam
8. Scrap thin rope

2008-02-10-tools.jpg

MY TOOLS


Share step by step instructions for how you completed the project:

1. First, find a school desk with some potential. Bring it home.
2. Flip it over and inspect for a good spot for the cut underneath the seat. Put on safety gear and using a reciprocating saw cut the metal tubing that connects the desk and the chair.
3. Clean the chair to get it ready for painting. Lay down some sort of material to protect the ground.
4. Spray paint all the metal parts. Don't worry if any paint gets on the seat/backrest as all of it will be covered by the slipcovers. Let dry.
5. Find some large piece of scrap paper (back of ugly wrapping paper will do) and use it to trace out the shape of the seat and the backrest. Cut the shapes out.
6. Find foam with the thickness of your liking and cut it to shape using the paper patterns.
7. Attach the foam to the seat/backrest using spray glue on the foam.
8. Cut out the fabric for the front of the slipcover using the same paper patterns used in step 6. For the back pieces I did a lot of eyeballing and estimating. The back pieces do not have to be perfect because they are gonna be scrunched up.
9. Sew the front and back together of each of the slipcovers.
10. Fold over the edge of the back piece of the slipcover and sew it together to provide the space for the rope to string through.
11. String the rope through.
12. Put the covers on the chair. Tie the string tight and hide it within the cover.
13. Bingo! The chair is done!
(Also, repeat steps 8-10 if you want multiple slip covers in different fabrics)"

2008-02-06-during.jpg

DURING

2008-02-06-after2.jpg
AFTER

Tags

Jan Jumpstart 2008 - Midwest, How To...

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Comments (6)

This is a clever idea, but the result is so disappointing. Maybe the inevitable shirring could somehow be played up and really incorporated into the design of the slipcover.

posted by visualingual on 2008-02-06 12:28:49
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ill fitting covers kill that deal.

posted by Astrid Vladi on 2008-02-06 12:38:11
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10 out of 10 for creative problem-solving... I'm leaning toward thinking that the right print would have made the shirring look more "designed." Solids are like gloss paint -- they draw attention to flaws you didn't even know were there.

posted by wende in phoenix on 2008-02-06 13:00:45
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It looks like it's wearing a diaper.

posted by jenc on 2008-02-06 14:59:47
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Love the idea. Love the colour! Like other have said though, the fit of the removable covers could be improved. Good effort.

posted by arza on 2008-02-06 15:46:07
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Um, I kind of like the "before" better. I do love the orange color though!

posted by kitties! on 2008-02-06 17:18:24
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