apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

BEFORE

Tell us the tools and resources you used for the project:

I used pink bar cloth fabric from Repro Depot (www.reprodepot.com, it was leftover from the shower curtain I made), a Stanley Pro Sharp Shooter staple gun with extra staples, Fabric Scissors, a Screwdriver, Pliers, screws, wood button pieces that I stained to match the chair color with brown Kiwi Shoe Polish, Howard's Feed-N-Wax wood feeder/cleaner to clean up the wood, a Black and Decker electric screwdriver, some rags (for waxing/oiling wood chair and shoe polish on wood buttons)and Elmer's wood glue.

MY TOOLS

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

This is my flip chair - I found it in the trash several months ago and thought it was lovely. Although I did not have a need for it, I thought I would flip it and re-sell it to find it a home where it could be appreciated...

Step-by-step:

I unscrewed the seat and the back of the chair, still covered with the old upholstery, removed the old fabric using a screwdriver and pliers. I discovered there were TWO layers of upholstery, so I decided to put my new fabric on top of the first layer. I started with the seat, cut a square of fabric about 1 inch extra all around the seat. I lined it up, stretched it over the back of the seat and stapled one or two staples each at the center of the top, bottom, and either side of the back of the seat. I then carefully went around and stretched and stapled the fabric all around the seat, cutting off the excess fabric using fabric scissors.

DURING

Then I removed the old fabric on the back and did the same thing with the new fabric, stretching and stapling carefully, cutting all of the excess. Using one of the fabric rags, I cleaned and oiled the wood of the chair, scrubbing harder in parts that needed more attention and carefully scraping of dried paint splatters and random "goo." I waited for the oil to be absorbed into the wood, then put some wood glue on the wood pegs, reattached the back and the newly reupholstered seat and screwed them in. Then I "stained" the wood buttons with the brown shoe polish using another of the fabric rags and used wood glue to glue them on top of the screws, creating a streamlined effect (no visible screws). Finally, I removed extra lingering lint and sat on the chair to make sure it was usable...success!

Now, who wants to give it a good home?

AFTER