Not an ugly chair anymore

So I found this lovely little gem at a garage sale with my dear friend Darcey. Immediately we saw the simple yet elegant lines of this find and bought what was a pair. We each got one for a grand total of $4 for both. We were thrilled with the potential. In the midst of a move and planning a wedding there was much distraction for both of us for several months.

Finally one day needing the solitude and project I found myself disecting this chair in all it's glory. Chunks of pillow coming out left and right, tearing off hardened velvet that felt that it had been soft in it's heyday but had spenttoo many rainy seasons outdoors now making a sad hard sheen on the fabric. My dear mother gave me her leftover Ikea fabric from one of her projects and immediately I knew it would be a part of this chair. I love that their fabrics are thick and durable. I hate that they are so recognizable but again, trying not to spend much money I found myself digging in my bin of fabric and resorting to this. At least I must say I adore the design.

I could not take off the pillows so immediately I knew this was going to be quite the chore. I decided to paint the chair first so with a layer of black spray paint on the wicker part and layers of black shiny oil based paint I found that this chair already looked better than ever. The next chore was measuring the fabric, flipping it inside out to securing it to the bottom part of the chair (where the backs of your knees hit). With probably 50 staples from my handy staple gun I was able to secure the fabric without showing any pillow. I stuffed the rest of the fabric into the seam of the chair along the sides and back. With my sewing machine I made the stop part of the back of the chair sewing three of the four sides of a square. At this point I just covered the top part and with a flat head screwdriver shoved the excess fabric into the chair where it cannot be seen. There's a button I covered in the same fabric on the back of the chair that goes through the wicker and secures the back pillow to avoid it flopping.

Two days of labor later. It seemed like such an easy project when I started but than of course, they always do....

For future projects I will take photographs of the steps, supplies, pain (cut fingers etc) and make this a bit more interactive.