Before and After - Side Chair Makeover

Way back in the summer I shared these two chairs I found on Craigslist on Instagram.


After sitting in my garage all summer (and winter), I decided to finally give one of them a makeover!



Normally I would have started with the one that already has the hard part done... the old upholstery removed... but I needed the pieces to use as patterns so I chose the one that was still upholstered.

I took pictures as I went so I could remember how to put it back together.

Here it is with the first layer of the back off to reveal the old batting...


Then with the batting removed...


The seat with the first layer removed...


This upholstery job was weird! It had this layer of weird grass looking stuff under the batting...


And then there was twine sewn all around the edge...


After undoing the twine and pulling back the grassy substance there was a layer of reeeaaaalllly old foam...


Then another layer of batting...


And finally, the webbing! Woohoo!


I saved the batting but threw the rest out.


The foam on the arms disintegrated and made a big mess...



And I had to repair one of the arms.


Then I gave it a fresh coat of paint... a color called cake batter... mmmm :o) And then I started re-upholstering... I chose a fun polka dot burlap fabric.

I put the batting I saved back over the webbing and put my first layer of burlap on that...


but it wasn't puffy enough for me...


So I found an IKEA feather pillow in my stash and used that!


I did use a layer of off-white muslin under the burlap, over the pillow just to hide the pillow since burlap has a tendency to be rather see-through!

Here it is with all it's layers!


I love the fun polka dot pattern with the fancy carved wood!


I covered the staples with some pretty trim.


And distressed the wood parts a little to bring out the carving.





I love how it turned out! It's heading down to by booth at the Uptown Antique Mall! Only a week away from getting my new, second booth space!