‘Hold on! I gotta turn around! There’s a chair on the side of the road!!!’ That’s what my husband heard in a panicked voice while I was on my way home from work. Here is said chair:
Yeah…pretty gross, right? It was rickety and covered in spider eggs but full of potential!
Here’s how I made a lonely chair happy:
First, I removed the seat cushion from the chair using my screwdriver.
Next, I ripped out all of the rusted upholstery tacks with a hammer. (Sorry, no photos for this section. You’re better off that way…it was pretty disgusting.) Taking the fabric and foam off of the wooden seat base (approximately 1″ x 13″ x 15″), I then used our hand sander to sand down the whole chair. I started with 60 grit and followed it up with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the rough parts.
It already looks so much better, doesn’t it!?
My next step was to reupholster the seat. I bought 4″ foam and cut it down to the size of my wood seat base with a knife (I heard an electric turkey carver is awesome for this kind of job, but we were sadly lacking that piece of equipment). Using a spray adhesive (found at any hardware or craft store), I attached the foam to the board. I wrapped the whole foam & base unit with a layer of cotton batting to soften the edges.
Then I wrapped the 1 yd. of fabric around the seat base and used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the wood. (Again, I don’t have a picture of my methods because I made it up as I went along and was too excited to shoot pictures.) The tutorial I used can be found here at Young House Love‘s site.
The last step was my least favorite part. Painting. I used a foam brush and did 4 thin, even coats. My paint was a combined primer and paint, but I think it would have been looked fine without a primer.
The completed, now ‘happy’ chair:
And here’s a closeup of the fabric which I found at Hancock Fabrics for 30% off.
The total breakdown of costs:
Chair-Free
Sander and Sandpaper- Free (on hand)
Screwdriver, hammer, staple gun- Free (on hand)
White semi gloss paint- Lowes $6
Paint brush & tray- $6
Small staples-$4
Foam & cotton batting- $12
Spray adhesive- $4
Fabric- $16
Total:$48
Ok, so it wasn’t a cheap upcycle. At least not as cheap as I thought when I saw that lonely guy on the side of the road. Some of the materials can be used for other projects but overall, with the paint, fabric and cushioning, I could have found a chair for the same price at Target. Obviously not as cute or with as much love though! I have no idea why I fought the old lady on the sidewalk for this chair because I still have no good place for it but at least it’s pretty!
