Re-upholstery attempt #2

...was a success!

About 3 1/2 years ago, when I found out I was moving to Mississippi, I ran to a garage sale with my mom. We weren't expecting to find anything, but thought it might be worth the trip. When we arrived I saw a set of 4 chairs that looked like they might have potential. I talked the home-owner down from $40 to $30 for the set of four (the leg on one chair needed a slight repair) and walked away a happy camper.
*note: I was moving into a big house that needed furniture, so it wasn't a completely random purchase.

Once the chairs were purchased I had to figure out what to do with them. The more I looked at them the uglier they were. The wood had a horrible finish on it, hideously tarnished brass tacks and a mauve-ish Naugahyde covering...but the bones were good!


I have ALWAYS love this picture from a cover of House & Garden. It was actually the first issue I ever bought because I loved it so much.



I have always wanted a dining room similar to this one - old farm table with white Louis XVI style chairs (hopefully with a crewel or needlepoint upholstery). In my mind I was sure I could do something similar with these 4 chairs.

The first few months I was in Mississippi I searched and searched and searched and finally found some fabric I liked in an issue of the now axed Blueprint magazine. I tracked it down in a shop in Soho and had them ship me last 4 yards. Once I decided on my print I had to find a solid to cover the seat and back with. Thanks to a trip to The Linen Shop in Canton, MS I found P. Kaufman's Slubby basket in Caribe for $8 a yard.

I then removed the former covering of the chair and white-washed the frame. I covered the seat and very back of the chair in the green and the back with the floral. The hardest part was making the cording out of such thick fabric! I ended up cheating and attached it with hot glue.


Those two chairs now float between my living and dining rooms.



Three years later I still had two chairs in the storage room, but realized I needed a chair for my new office. What to do? Re-cover another one, of course!

I was much more prepared with this one. I went the paint store and played with paint colors for a while. With the help of the guys behind the counter I settled on Benjamin Moore's Bavarian Cream. I am really pleased with the color. It's just a bit warmer than bright white.

I covered the seat and very back of this chair with a great neutral linen I found at Premier Fabrics ($10/yard). I covered the back of the chair with a fabulous fabric that I found at Sir's for about $4/yard. I later found that fabric in a shop for $50/yard. Go me!

For this chair I used bronze upholstery tacks instead of trim. That. was. difficult. OMG. It's amazing I didn't chip off more paint than I did (thanks to my dad, who was in town a few weekends ago, the tacks ended up much straighter than in the picture above). But the finished product was worth it. Don't you think so?