I found this Louis-style chair at The Rink a couple months ago. I bought it knowing it could be amazing after a little bit of work was put into it.
This project took me a lot longer than expected. The actual work was pretty uncomplicated, but since I had never worked with a chair like this, I psyched myself out every time I looked at it!
I removed the old ugly fabric within the first few days of bringing it home. That didn't take too long - just a lot of muscle. I made sure when I was removing the old fabric, that I was careful to keep all the pieces in tact and that I remembered how it was attached in the first place. This is probably the most important step in reupholstering furniture. The old fabric serves as a template for the new fabric.
I was super lucky that the batting was in great shape and that I didn't have to replace it. This was my first time working with a chair of this type - The only tutorial I could find online was this one at PoeticHome and just looking at the photos for replacing the stuffing made me want to vomit!
I had considered painting the wood a bright fun color like Jenny did over at Little Green Notebook, but I decided to go with my gut and stain it instead.
After having sat in my office for forever, naked (the chair, not me), I moved the it to the garage, where it sat. And sat. And who knows how much more time passed before I stopped procrastinating and actually started working on it again. My biggest issue was not so much procrastination, but the fact that I REALLY like the chair and I didn't want to screw it up!
Stripping the old paint took a few days... those little grooves are no fun to get paint out of!
I stained the wood and finished with a coat of polyurethane.
I finally found a print that I liked, so I cut pieces of fabric using the old fabric as templates, adding a couple inches around the edges so the print with line up the way I liked. Stapling the new fabric on was one of the easiest steps of the entire project. There was a little edge of wood where the wood trim met the batting - this is where the staples went. The staples were then hidden by hot glueing the piping around the edge.
I love how the chair turned out!
What do you think?
Have you had any projects that are WAY easier than you thought they would be?
