Upping My Upholstering Game

 I am almost did not survive the making of this chair. This post almost did not happen. Okay I am being dramatic. Well about the first part. I think it would be more accurate to say that the chair almost did not survive.

I have reupholstered many chair cushions at this point. You know, the kind where you unscrew it from the chair and then just staple. I've got that down. So it was about time for me to try something different. I don't know how soon I would do it again but I got it done.

It all started with the below $5 garage sale chair. I actually got it at the same place where my sister later bought this $5 desk at the family's second garage sale. The chair was actually sitting at my sister's future desk when I bought it but I didn't get the desk because at that time they were asking $40!!! for it.

The seat of the chair was very faded but the top part wasn't as bad. And the top was the part that would be hard to change. So I momentarily considered trying to keep the top fabric and just changing the bottom. Since that would be easier. Buttt that would be cheating and my husband pointed out that it was ugly haha.

So the project began. I actually bought this chair in May I think and it sat in our spare room until September when I started. The actual painting and seat part I got done quickly and then it sat until last week when I finally got enough courage to reupholster the chair back. Warning I took a lot of pictures. I am overcompensating for all the projects that I took hardly any pictures of. 

My first step was deciding where I wanted to use the chair and what to do about painting. I decided  to put it in our living room and paint it black. Black seemed like the obvious and boring choice but I figured I could do a pop of color with the fabric. I decided to use spray paint since it was a small surface and would be a lot easier with all of the details. Most spray paints have primer included but I went ahead and got a separate spray primer to just be extra safe. I used less than 1 can of the primer and 1.5 cans of the black paint. I usually get glossy for spray paint but went with satin since I didn't want the wood to look too shiny. 

Here is the chair with the primer coat. Looks better already! So here is my first mistake...I didn't take the chair back fabric off first. I ended up having to touch the paint up later when I took it off because I scratched some of the paint and the fabric was covering some of the wood. 

This is my self proclaimed "spray painting deck" but I am trying to be more careful and actually put cardboard down...

 I did the black coat after letting the chair drive for a full day just to be safe. Recommendation: Wear gloves while painting. I don't know why I hate them so much but I always forget and then regret it later. When it ruins my nails.

While I let the black paint dry (for at least a day) I worked on the seat. I cut some batting out to size just for the top (I didn't want to wrap the batting all around and make the seat too wide). I did not take the old fabric off I just covered it. 

I picked out some yellow fabric that I already had. I had a fabric fashion show and made Pascal pick. I bought it on sale from Jo-Ann's figuring I would use it for something. I had 2 yards but only used half of it. I can't remember the price when I bought it, I think $10 or $13 a yard. 

Because of the pattern I had to be careful to center the fabric. After lining it up I only put one staple on each side to start to make sure it was centered. 

The next step was trying to get the top fabric off...First I pulled the trim off with a combination of a small pry bar and a small knife. This was the part where I scratched the paint...It was annoying but once I got a good grip I could pull big pieces off at a time. So.Many.Staples.

I was then able to just rip the fabric off. And I found a surprise. I guess there was a small foam cushion in between the fabric at some point and it had disintegrated ...And I got orange stuff all of over my floor. 

Getting all the staples out of the back was a challenge and this was about the time I started swearing (inside my head of course). I used small pliers to pull them out. It was frustrating and took a while. At the end I still had a couple left in there but not enough to get in the way. 

Once that was done I stapled the back piece of fabric on, being careful to center it. While I was stapling I just laid the chair down on the ground. 

So the last step was what I was nervous about. Figuring out how to add the final piece of fabric with out any raw edges or staples showing...I was tempted to just glue the entire thing. I decided to use nail-head trim instead of fabric trim like was on the chair originally. So I needed there to be clean edges since the edges wouldn't be covered completely. I pretty much just made this up as I went along so this is definitely not professional. 

First I cut a piece of felt to use in between the fabric. I didn't use batting because I didn't want it to stick out too much and this chair isn't really for lounging/comfort...I bought this giant roll of felt for $1 at a garage sale! I traced it on the back of the chair and then cut it.... pretty simple so far.

I used spray adhesive just to keep the fabric secure, tight, and centered on the felt. I then used my hot glue gun to wrap the fabric around and attach it on the back. I did this so I could have somewhat clean/smooth edges instead of just cutting the fabric.

         

And finally the last step: nail-head trim! I ordered this trim from Amazon. It was $16 for 5 yards and I only used half of it. I guess I was a little confused about what it was until it actually came. I realized that it was already connected but not that you only actually nailed in every 5th nail. The rest were just "fake" nail-heads. At first I was disappointed and didn't think it would look good but once it was completed you could barely tell that they were attached and that some were fake. 

I needed Pascal's help with this part so there are no process pictures. It took longer than expected. I don't think Pascal wants to do it again (at least not with me). Sometimes DIY is not very relaxing... Basically I bent and shaped the pre-attached trim around and held it in place while Pascal nailed the nails in with a rubber mallet. I also stretched and tried to keep straight my fabric/felt creation underneath the trim. A lot of the nails went in crooked and had to be discarded. I hear that's pretty common with nail head trim in general. So although we have half of the trim left I don't think we actually have half of the nails left. The fabric ended up not perfectly tight and has some bumps in it but I think it was still worth it in the end.

Andd that was it. Finally my chair was complete! I don't think I will attempt this again for a while...Once I actually got going it didn't take that long so it could be done in a few days just so the paint has plenty of time to dry. After pictures!

And a before/after picture so you don't have to scroll up to see the before...

 

My total cost for this project was: $5 chair + $12 spray paint + $10 fabric + $8 trim = $35. Still much cheaper than buying a chair new plus this one has been personalized with my blood, sweat, and tears (all true, I cut myself trying to get the old staples out). Pascal says that it is very "fancy" which is a little different then our other furniture but it is good to mix things up.