Reupholstering a Chair {Mommy Monday}

Alright Friends!  I'm back after a long blog hiatus.  We are going to take a small break from the baby food segment for a little upholstery empowerment. 

When we went to my grandparent's farm a few months ago, I got to bring back this awesome chair.  It was one of their first pieces of furniture after they got married.  It was originally a wool plaid of greens and yellows...so cool, I know!  And my Grandmother reupholstered it with this geometric 70s fabric.  I had planned to keep it because I LOVED how it looked, but unfortunately, it had been attacked by mildew.  So I took it on as a project.  

Let me start off by saying, I make no claims to be a professional, nor do I think my way is the right way.  I am simply sharing an experience, so you know that if you have a project don't be afraid to take it on.  It may not be the most conventional approach, but make it happen.

1) Whenever you are doing something you don't know how to do, take pictures as you go when disassembling it.  I am going to spare you of those photo because they aren't pretty and there are a million of them.  Here is one so you can see how cool that fabric is!

2)  My materials:  I bought a 2 inch thick foam, 1 yard of fabric, burlap, batting, had my handy tools ready.

3)  Here is a shot of the bare bones of the chair.  When I took it apart the padding was the original horse hair.  That stuff lasts forever and I hadn't seen it in person before.  I was very sad to throw that out, but I was scared the mold had penetrated it.

4)  I then stapled the burlap onto the bottom and back of the chair.  I only thought to do this because it was on there when I took it apart.

Trim up the edges so there isn't any overlap.

5) Next I headed inside to cut out my pattern.  What you will not see here is the fact that I had to do this twice because I didn't take into account the size of the foam.  So I would recommend giving yourself a 2 in perimeter when you are cutting from the original fabric pattern.  This will save heartache and tears.

6)  I then laid the foam on the fabric and traced the outline of the seat and back and cut those out.  Don't expect to get it right the first time.

Note the patch job at the bottom right corner.

7)  Now I flipped the chair over and stapled the batting tightly over the foam so it holds it in place.

8)  Almost done!  Bring out the fabric and do the same thing as you did with the batting.  I chose a 70-ish inspired fabric that had a pattern that needed to be lined up...more work, but looks good.

9)  Ta-Da!  You have a finished chair!  Again, not perfect, but completed and under $40.  I still need to add some nail-head pins to the underside that's hanging down.

I've already put it to good use.  You can see it here in one of my maternity sessions.

Always,

The Barefoot Mamma