Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Grandma's Chairs

I recently inherited my grandmother's dining room table and chairs. And even though I love her, I hate the Golden Girls, 80's, floral print fabric.

















Not exactly my style. So I decided to be a big girl and recover the chairs. It took me a while to find the right fabric at the right price. But I finally did, so here's how I transformed my grandmother's chairs.

Obligatory before picture



















First things first...Here are all the tools you will need except the staple gun which I forgot to photograph. Batting or a chair seat foam, if you want to be fancy. A level or ruler for straight lines. Scissors, screwdriver or large staple remover, white fabric pencil, black magic marker, measuring tape, and Febreeze.



















Once you have everything assembled, remove the seats from the chair. Usually you just have to take out the screws. Then, start the fun job of removing the staples. I used the screwdriver by shoving it under the staple and just wiggling the staple out. I had a ton of staples because I had 3 layers of old fabric to remove. Here are the other two, nice right?














Now that all the fabric is removed your left with the old foam and old batting and wood seat. I reused the foam which is where the Febreeze comes in. My grandparent's were heavy smokers. So I Febreezed the heck out of these and put them on the back porch. It worked great. But I most definately did not reuse the old batting - gross.








Place your wood seat on your batting (or foam) and trace a pattern using the black magic marker. Cut out your batting and use it as your pattern for your other seats.













Unfortunately, I did not take pics of the next steps. But, believe me, if I can do it so can you. It's so simple. If you have a pattern in your fabric like me, make sure there isn't a part of the pattern that needs to be centered on the seat. My fabric has one so I put my batting on the wood seat then centered the pattern. I flipped the seat, pulled the fabric taught on one side and stapled. I just went around and when I came to the corners I folded it (like a present) so there is no puckering, just nice and neat.

Make sure you staple everything down nice and tight and your done. It's that simple. And here is the final result.


















I love my new dining room table and chairs! Do you have any fun do it yourself fun?

DIY Day @ ASPTL

16 comments:

southerninspiration said...

Oooh, very nice!!!

suzanne

Pam @ This Humble House said...

I like them much better now! Great job!

~ Pam

Jane said...

Looks very nice. That fabric is lovely.

Shannon said...

Great job. I have a chair project underway currently.. long process.

TheFancyFritter said...

Awe! I remember those! You did great! I love them!

Fiona said...

Great job, Kelly! I love your new blogspot too! Very creative!!

Southern Fried Gal said...

Nice chairs - and your fabric is so funky cute!

Lindsey said...

Kelly! Way to go! Love the fabric!

RebeccaStinson said...

I've covered my grandma's chairs too! But my fabric is not as fancy as yours! I was on a tight budget and found some tablecloths and cut them up and used those. They didn't turn out too bad. But I have to admit, Brian did all the work! Great job doing it yourself!!

Unknown said...

Isn't it amazing how quickly you can change the entire look with so little effort. Love your fabric.

Thanks for joining me -- make sure you enter the Purdy paintbrush giveaway.

Jodi Nelson said...

That fabric is fabulous with those chairs! What a great pick. Found you through Kimba's DIY. So glad I did. Great project!

Let it Shine said...

Golden Girls, HA! Cracks me up.
Love your fabric choice.
And the name of your blog is fantastic!!

trish said...

I love your "new" chairs! :o)

Let it Shine said...

Where did the name of your blog come from?
Every time I have seen it, I smile.
In fact, when my daughter was born, I wanted her to call my Dad "Grumps" but my husband was totally against it.

Let it Shine said...

OK, sorry. Just read your About Me.
Please forgive me, I am technically inept.

sarah said...

I love the fabric you chose! Those look great!