Good Questions Update: A Cushy Question Answered! Los Angeles

We love followups from our readers, so we were pleased to see this email update from Lisa who ended up taking the AT community's advice and tackling a DIY challenge to some lovely results:

Hi, I posted a few questions a couple of months ago about some mid-century chairs I bought that needed refinishing (Good Questions: A Cushy Question). I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice! I ended up stripping, sanding and restaining the chairs, since the teak oil did not do much to repair the cracks. I bought cushions online and had cushion covers made at a reupholsterer with fabric I supplied ($3 a yard on sale!) for a lot less than the original price the other upholsterer had quoted me!

Got a good question you'd like answered? Send your queries and a photo or two illustrating your question, and we'll see if the ATLA team or our readers can help you out.

Also, I used nylon straps that my dad had laying around to replace the old straps and just nailed them in with upholstery tacks. All in all, it cost me just under $300 to redo these chairs, about half of what it would have cost me to have them done professionally. It did end up taking me like 3 months because I could only do work on the weekends at my mom's house, since I don't have an outdoor space at my apartment. Anyway, just wanted to share some pictures and say thanks! -Lisa

Thanks Lisa for sharing about your DIY chair makeover. Hopefully you've inspired some others to follow your footsteps!

Comments (13)

Very nice job - kinda bland color though.

Lisa, you get an A . Great restoration and reupholstery.

I love the juxtaposition of the cream cushions against the deep color of the wood. This gives you lots of flexibility in accessorizing and changing the look over the time.

Wow! Great color choices on the stain and the fabric. Very sophisticated.

I LOVE them! Those are fantastic!

Where did you buy the cushions at online? I am looking for cushions, for a chair just like that. They look great!

If you live in Los Angeles, I can not recommend All Size Foam and Fabric in Vernon enough. Their prices were easily half of what everyone else was selling the same stuff for. The staff is friendly, but it is mostly a wholesale business, so you should have some idea of what you want before going. They have a board, that you pick the quality foam, and tell them the dimensions, pay and one of the workers will cut it for you...they will even do odd shape cuts if they aren't too complicated and you have all the measurements.

OMG! I have that EXACT SAME chair - I bought it years ago, second hand and have been wanting to have it reupholstered in a color close to this - more of a camel brown - to match my other furniture. Right now it has this really ugly bright green vinyl cover - but I ABSOLUTELY love the chair itself - it's very comfy and has a lot of sentimental value - so thank you for the "roadmap" to getting it done, and showing me what it could look like! I think this will be my May project :)

The color does look kind of washed out in the pictures but in real life it's a deep buttery yellow with a waffle pattern. It looks great with all my wood furniture and my brown velvet couch. I just wanted something that would complement the colors I have now but also be versatile. Plus, $3 a yard for fabric - I can't complain!

I got the cushions at cushionsxpress.com, you just pick the shape, measurements, and the thickness of the foam and if you want dacron or not. I used them because I had a connection there and they did give me free shipping and a slight discount.

Thanks so much for the compliments! The chairs turned out amazing and inspired me to redo an old glass cabinet I have. I think I'll try painting this time, just for something different :)

Great job. Your lounge chairs are exactly what I've been looking for.

Nice job! You should be proud!

You did a fabulous job and your chairs are gorgeous!

What color stain did you use on the wood? I'm refinishing a 1950's desk with atomic legs. I bought a walnut stain and want the color to be same as your chairs. Do you mind sharing what color stain you used?

The chairs do look really nice and completing any project is always gratifying. I have one question, though? What is DIY, really? It reads as if Lisa refinished the wood portions of the chairs (that is, actually Did-It-Herself), then had the upholstery done professionally.
She probably learned a lot and feels a very well-deserved sense of accomplishment about the wood refinishing and re-doing those straps, but I'm left wondering. I mean it's always good to know your limitations (space, time, budget, etc.), but if I went to visit someone and she showed these chairs to me and said she did them herself, I might think she stained them and she put on the new straps and she stitched up the new cushions. Whether she did some, all, or none of the work is OK with me. I just feel a little silly when I think she did all the work but she actually did half and paid a professional to do the other half.
Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but I've had this happen. I visit someone. She tells me that she re-did a chair or whatever. Then, because I want to learn, I ask a few 'how to' questions. What I learn is she picked out the fabric and wrote a check to the upholsterer.
That said, Lisa, your chairs look great!

Great job Lisa! I have a pair of similar chairs and I started to strip them down, but found it hard. Did you use a sander at all, or just stripper?

Also, would you recommend your upholsterer? I'd love the info!

Thanks!