Nursery Chair

Several months ago I visited my mom and sister while they were having a yard sale, just to visit and of course bring some Starbucks. Cant get through a yard sale without some good ol' Starbucks. Of course whenever you are near a yard sale you just cant help but look around. Well hidden in the back corner of the drive way was an old upholstered chair my mom had had in storage for years. It wasn't much to look at just your ordinary old velvet chair, but as soon as I sat in it I knew I had to have it. It is so comfortable!! So my mom was generous enough to give it to me, and my husband was sweet enough to come and pick it up in his truck, and home it went!

 

Now I've never reupholstered a chair like this before. Sure I've done my fair share of dining room chair cushions and even helped make some slipcovers (story here) but never a project this big. I will now be the first to admit I went into this project totally naïve! I looked online for some tutorials and they made it sound like a piece of cake. Maybe their chairs were easier, or maybe they had more experience but, naturally, my chair wasn't really like the chairs on any tutorial. So a lot of guess work took place let me tell ya.

 

 

Here is the chair before I started...

 

 

Not bad, just a little dated. So I started snapping pictures from every angle, as the tutorial suggested I do. This step was supposed to be a reference of where everything goes, and how it was all put together. But I didn't take nearly enough pictures of the stuff that matters. Something you would only know if you had done this before.

 

 

 

 

 

Since I didn't know the gender of the baby when I started this chair, I just decided to go with a really neutral fabric. I hope it doesn't get too stained up, and I do plan to throw a cute blanket over it to try and help protect it some.

 

Here is the finished result....

 

 

 Thank goodness babies don't know what straight seams are and don't love you any less if you aren't a top seamstress!! One thing you can't see in this picture is the row of bronze nail head trim that goes down the side of the arms, which adds a little bit more personality.

 

The one thing that did stay intact through this whole project is the comfort of this chair. Which is fantastic because I envision myself spending many a night rocking our little boy in this chair, or reading him bed time stories.

 

Here is a side by side...

 

 

I'm just so relieved that this project is finally done and I can move onto the more exciting projects like dying onsies and making cute bow ties. ;)

 

Dining Room Chairs

So I never did show you all how our dining room chairs turned out after I reupholstered them! If you remember they were stained and old and looked like this...

Ewww! Not pretty.

Well after a little bit of work they now look like this!

I am so happy with the way they turned out. It was so easy to recover them and made such a dramatic difference. As I mentioned here I really wanted to try sewing on a stripe of lace down the center of the seat, because I loved the look of this chair.

So on one of the chairs I tried it.

It was pretty, but it just didn't look right with the style of the chair. Maybe when we buy a new dining room set that has a more country styled chair I can try this again. But as for now Ill just stick with the plain linen. :)

Dreamy Dining Room Chairs

For a few weeks I have been thinking about reupholstering our dining room chairs. They have been through some rough times, and are showing there years. I remember the day I helped pick out this table and chair set for my mom a good 10+ years ago. Since then they have made it through a house full of pets, and more recently my nannying job. Needless to say, there are a few juice stains as well as mac n cheese smears. (It was totally worth it, to get to spend everyday with the little cutie). But today I decided, I don't want to look at our ugly, old, stained dining room seats any longer! Just look at these things...

They look like they were owned by a diesel mechanic who never changed before he ate dinner. Anyway, I just so happened to have a coupon for Joann's Fabric screaming my name from my email inbox, for a whopping 50% off one whole purchase. So off I went to buy some dreamy linen. While I was there this little picture popped into my mind. This chair I found on pinterest was love at first sight!

I have a feeling it will be a while until I ever own a chair as beautiful as this one. But I can definitely try and make my own version with what I have! So linen and lace it was.

On a more serious note, I'm thinking I may have a disorder called fearofbuyingfabric-itis. As soon as I pull that number and wait in line to get my fabric cut I start to get the butterflies, and I keep changing how many yards of fabric I want to buy. I suppose it would help to be more prepared before I actually buy the fabric. Like perhaps knowing the measurements of my chairs so I could make a more educated guess. :)

But I didn't so I just guessed and said ,"Give me 4 yards please" with the biggest smile I could muster. I figure I can always go back and get more if I need it. So with my coupon the fabric only came to $13! After I bought that I went back and had them cut me 4 yards (again, totally guessing) of lace. I made separate orders so they wouldn't use my coupon on the lace instead of the fabric. Is that cheating? At the register, the wonderful lady had another 50% off coupon so my lace only came to $9. I could have kissed her! So altogether this has only cost me $22! That is if I don't have to go back and get more fabric. 

I'm a little nervous having never done something like this before, but I think it should be fairly easy. Ill let you all know how they turn out!