one woman's trash is another's treasure

This weekend, my sweet parents came to visit us in Nashville!!  We had such a great time visiting with them.  We stayed busy around the city going to the farmer's market Saturday morning, trying out our new favorite local restaurants, hitting up Starbucks a few times, and getting some much needed projects done around our new home.  I'm lucky to have a very handy dad and crafty, creative mom! 

Our biggest project came unexpectedly! We decided to leave an older table in Charlotte and attempt to find an inexpensive used one on craigslist. I found someone who had posted a list of furniture that lived literally 3 blocks down. We checked it out, and ultimately bought, a solid cherry wood table with a leaf and 6 chairs. Of course it was loved and had minor scratches, but overall the table was a great find! The only problem was the upholstery, of course. This is what I brought home:

Just in case the picture does not do it justice: a teal/purple hued aztec striped upholstery... gag! 

We had 2 days to reuphoster 6 chairs.... Mom and I were up for the challenge.

Tools used:

Scotch guard

staple remover

staple gun

screw driver

 Step 1: Select new upholstery. I chose a textured striped beige upholstery from a local shop in Nashville Textile Fabric Store that just so happened to be 50% off this weekend- Score! I considered a more trendy stripe or print, but decided this would outlast my taste of colors and decorating for years to come.

Step 2: Spray the fabric with Scotch guard. Twice, we were advised to spray with scotch guard before the fabric is cut and fit and then repeat after.  I'm very glad we did this first.

Step 3: Unscrew each seat from the frame- a few spiders escaped!

Step 4: Remove the staples and the old fabric.  You can see the original upholstery- a gold floral... (which I might like better than the aztec teal!)

Step 5: Keep removing staples!  This was the longest part of the process since we faced 2 layers and a cushion underneath that was stuck to the wood. 

Step 6: Remove the wood seat from the previous fabric.  Thanks Mom for doing this part! Yuck!

Step 7: Cut the layers to fit each seat.  We used 2 layers of foam cushion, added a layer of muslin, then cut to fit each piece of upholstery.  We stapled all 4 sides first, then carefully placed the 4 corners.

The finished product!  Of corse it's not perfect or custom made, but it feels good to say I had a part in finishing our chairs!  I think we did a pretty good job at that.  I would have never attempted this on my own without my Mom's guidance, she is able to see a project and make it happen in a short amount of time. Would I do it again? Sure!  Only if Mom helps again! :)