She's getting all BLINGED out...

Reupholstering for the first time.

     I think I've mentioned before that I am a seat of my pants kind of decorator inside my home. Sometimes I manage to come up with some pretty amazing ideas, executed well, and other times, well I hide the evidence.  I've read a few blogs from some very talented DIY ladies out there, on the topic of reupholstering.  They make it seem fun and fairly easy to do.  I want to join in on the fun and easy to do. 

     Okay, I'm about to admit something to you all, that I have NEVER said out loud.  I am a "chairaholic".  Yup, I see a chair and I can't say no, although I've gotten a lot better.  In fact so good, I have managed throughout the years to clear out most of my chairs. I said most, but NOT all.  Back when I worked full time and had a disposable income (has it been 10 years already?), I paid a whole lotta money for a pair of chairs that I had shipped from France.  I was instantly in love with having authentic French furniture.  The lines of the chairs are AMAZING, the orange and black tint to the wood, not so much, and the fabric...um don't even get me started on how ugly it is.  But love is blind in many cases, and this has certainly been no exception.  Let me introduce to you one of the pair.  (The other one is camera shy, or is it she's hiding in the basement under a ton of stuff?)  Now is the time to put on your rose colored glasses if you have any. 

I wasn't lying when I said she was a little on the "orange" side and her frock, well again, don't even get me started.  But I have a vision, or I've never taken off my own rose colored glasses.  I needed to seriously do something to tone her down and make her more in line with my style and taste.  (I'm still figuring out my style and taste).  I grabbed a while back this thing called "Rub n' Buff", it was at Michael's and I was armed with a 40% off coupon.  This tiny tube actually covers up to 20 square feet....impressive to say the least.  You only have to use a minimal amount and by that I mean pea size for each section of the chair.  

Here's what I used...a pair of disposable gloves, a somewhat stiff paint brush, and the Rub n' Buff.  It's best to do this outside, although it doesn't have that, obnoxious of an odor.  I simply squeezed a tiny amount on the tip of the brush and lightly painted it on, I then went over it with my finger.  That really helps to smooth it out and distribute it a great deal more than the brush does. The brush was great for the smaller crevices and trust me there were plenty.  

  

Here she is looking a little "fancy".  Look at those legs...now can you see what I first fell for?  I left the chair outside all afternoon.  I have decided to do a section at a time, just in case at some point I feel that I am not able to reupholster the chair.  The back of the chair being my starting point, since I have never done this before.  It took a couple of hours of just pulling each individual upholstery tack out, using needle nose pliers.  Ouch, is all I can say every time I pinched myself.  

Being cheap and not wanting to invest in expensive fabric, I purchased a painter's drop cloth from Lowe's.  It cost a whopping $20 bucks and should be enough to do the whole chair. I actually went with it because I love the look of the canvas.  I did bleach it and washed it a few times to "soften" it up.  

Once I had the back fabric off, I placed it on top of the drop cloth and gave myself an inch all around.

As you can see, I never work alone.  Now onto the moment of truth.  I already owned a staple gun.  I just simply tucked the fabric slightly under and stapled.  A few times I had to remove the staples because they weren't sitting flush, but all in all, it's pretty easy and (fun).  I made sure to tighten and tug the fabric and almost managed to finish it all, when this happened.

I ran out of staples....ugh.  I can still remove the tacks and cut the fabric but the actual reupholstering part will have to wait. I am toying with the idea of using some trim to cover up the staples but using a roll of upholstery tacks should hide my stapling, and by roll not individual ones to be hammered in. 

      Here's a close up....hey not too shabby for my first time! More to come I promise.  But in the meantime, I did see a chair in the window of a consignment shop....