Upholstering A Secondhand Armchair & Spray Painting The Legs: a house log

We are over the moon for this fantastic chair makeover. Here is Vanessa’s letter:

I read your journal daily and simply hoped to send you a link to a project I simply completed. It was inspired by your recommendation of this Target chair during their Home Design Event…

… a few months later I came across a chair at my GO-TO second hand store, Second Thyme Around in Manhattan, KS. I liked the lines and thought, perhaps this could be my first foray into reupholstery. I read about reupholstering on the internet and then I picked up the chair for $25. Using multiple coupons for Hobby Lobby and Joann’s, I picked up all the supplies I needed. Every single thing on this chair was at least 40% off, except the staples and spray paint, which I had to buy full price at the hardware store.

So here is the chair before…Then I let the deconstruction begin! I took a lot of pictures so I would not forget how everything went together at the end.
I must have pulled several hundred staples out. I have a pleasant little abrasion on my thumb from my needle nose pliers, so if you try this, I highly recommend gloves!

I discovered that the backing ‘pillow’ was in fact faux, so I ended up leaving that piece on, though I did remove the buttons. The frame, however, was a vivid hardwood, and quite sturdy.

Here is where I began to attach new fabric. I used the old fabric pieces as templates to cut the new fabric. The old fabric had some decomposing latex foam on it which turned to a fine yellow dust that coated everything. I replaced the foam rubber where it was too far gone.

Here the fabric attachment is nearly complete. I hadn’t done the button tufting yet…

The legs were fairly beat up so they got a fresh coat of paint. Krylon spray paint attaches to anything!

Here it is with the button tufting on the back complete. Reese seems to like this chair. He in fact sat in it while I did the tufting and played with the waxed twine. Never got out of the chair.

And at last…. The wrapped up project! Yeah, it is far from ideal. Also, the pillow cover needs some ironing, but that will come later.

Due to coupon use, the whole chair redo including the cost of the chair, was $73. And I had lively for 5 days worth of evenings. So I thought you might enjoy seeing the results. I hoped you to see the spirit of do-it-yourself your journal has encouraged in my life. Thanks again for the terrific journal! Best Regards, Vanessa

Seriously, could this made-it-myself story be more inspiring? We are so excited that Vanessa’s foray into reupholstery was a positive one. Enjoy that Hands-on spirit! Thanks so much for the pics, Vanessa… and we sincerely hope that your kitty gives you some much deserved chill time in that chair too!