my weekend project...

This weekend, I took on the project of re-upholstering the chair that I got from my great-uncle, Clifford. The chair was super comfy...but not so pretty. the fabric was kinda scratchy and almost to the point of being dry-rotted. I was going to try and take it somewhere to have it done, but I heard about how expensive it was and really didn't want to fork over $400 - $500 for a chair! I had previously bought some fabric for the chair, so I decided to give it a try. I shampooed the chair, thinking I would just put new fabric over the old stuff. But, with closer examination, I decided that all of the old fabric needed to come off. I ended up going all the way down to the frame. The potato sack-like mesh that was over the springs would start to crumble when I touched it...so off it came. I replaced it with a heavy fabric that I was lucky to find in the dollar section of my walmart's fabric department. Oh yeah... I now have a HUGE appreciation for people that do this for a living and completely understand why it is so expensive. It took me over a day just to get all the old fabric off. there were so many stinking staples and fabric nails in that thing... Anyway... I added some additional batting to the chair for a little extra comfort and I used the $1/yard fabric to hold the batting in place and as a trial for what I was going to have to do with the real fabric. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have chosen a striped pattern as my first re-upholstery project... but all in all, I am pretty darn impressed with how it turned out. I was able to strip most of the stain and poly off of the wood...but left a little on to give it that rustic type feel that Mike and I like. Mom is excited... b/c her chair is next and I was able to work out all the kinks with my own chair!