Thursday, July 21, 2011

Recovery

As promised- here are some shots of my very first attempts at re-covering---anything!  We've had this table for a few years--it's from the 70s I believe.  I don't love the chairs, but I do love the table.  At one point I thought I'd like to have six different chairs around the table.  But, for the time being, things are staying the same and it was way past re-covering time!

Please bear with the technical terms.

This is what the chairs looked like.  Yeah, I really needed to do this re-covering project EONS ago but, better late than never?  Anyway, the seats were all stained and some of them had rips in them.  This was one of the best looking ones.

So we tried covering them up with cheapish seat pads from Walmart.  This was not that much better as the pads deflated rather quickly and didn't look that good either.  But I thought they would be ok until I figured out what to do about the chairs--re-cover them or get new chairs that I would like much better.

Re-covering won. Ok, after unscrewing the seats, it was staple remover time.  This was a pain in the...fingers, hands and arms.  What did they do back then, super glue them in there?

This icky foam was under the fabric and it was NASTY.

Under the ICKY foam was this stuff and those s shaped spring thingys. 

This is what the seat looked like without the ICKY foam stuff and that other junk.

I replaced the ICKY foam with new foam.  And the new foam is 2" thick.

I glued this meshy kind of stuff down onto the wooden frame--

and then glued the new foam on top of that---are you bored to tears yet?

Once I had the fabric stapled onto the frame and around the foam, I glued and stapled another piece of the meshy stuff onto the bottom.

And VOILA!  Looks like new!


And now, five of the six chairs look like this one. 

Revelation time: what have I learned from this whole re-covering of the chairs project?  
  • I do not enjoy re-covering chairs; old, ripped and stained isn't all that bad.
  • I can do a better job than I thought, but have no desire to do it again. Ever.
  • Re-covering chairs hurts my fingers, hands, arms, shoulders and neck. 
  • The job does NOT get easier with each chair.
  • Taking the old staples out and getting the new fabric on are the two hardest parts of this kind of project
  • I hate trying to get a tight fit of the fabric around corners and curves. 
  • I was very proud of the first couple but the novelty wore off quickly.
  • The chairs really do look nice now so that sort of made it worth the trouble.
  • I was able to complete the entire project for only $66. (Foam is EXPENSIVE--it was more than the fabric--but then, I did get the fabric for 50% off...gotta love sales)
Anyway, we sat on the newly re-covered chairs for Birdie's farewell dinner last night of Mom's Shrimp Scampi on veggie linguini and a HUGE garden salad. 

At least she has some things to look forward to in Texas:


The Alamo


Cowboy hats...

Cowboy boots....
Texas Rangers...

Cowboys...

THE Cowboys- 



A little band you might have heard of:


Tommy Lee Jones

Yee haw, Y'all!

23 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness....I live in Texas, as you know, and I have yet to see cowboys that luscious!!! Whoa...I must be in the wrong part of Texas. I need to get out more. [wink]

    As for your newly covered chairs, my friend, I think they LOOK AWESOME!! Love the colors you chose, and well....if this is your first attempt [and I guess your last]--------you mastered it!!


    I WISH I WAS 18 AGAIN

    Hope your day has treated you well so far!!

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  2. Wow!Bring on the cowboys I say!!! Sorry, I should be commenting on your wonderful reupholstering of your chairs. Ugh, it was pretty messy underneath, wasn't it, but you really did an excellent job. They look great. Just as well, because they won't be getting done again in a hurry. Hee Hee! Good post and it did make me smile.

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  3. Yeah, ya can't fool me. Real cowboys don't bathe or brush their teeth or wear deodorant. lol

    Those chair covers look fantastic. Almost makes me want to do that, til I read your disclaimers. Maybe I'll live with my cheap Walmart pads a little longer. lol And yeah, I priced out foam a while ago. It's ridiculously expensive! Must be a petroleum product.

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  4. That chair looks great. I agree it's not a job that one would want to do again in a hurry. But the results are super! I love the fabric you chose - much better than white for longevity, isn't it?

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  5. You have done a great job of your chairs in spite of hating the job! Well done! As always, your writing is very entertaining and amusing, and I enjoyed the review you offered of lessons learnt from this task :)

    I know you didn't want Birdie to be going to Texas in the first place, but now you seem to be actively encouraging her, with all those HOT pictures of ripped cowboys??? ;)

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  6. Anni- I was afraid that was the case with the cowboys. LOL Thank you so much! They do look so much better and they are actually comfy now!

    Diane- Right?! LOL They really were disgusting underneath- but not anymore!

    Judy- Thank you! It was necessary at this point- but they do look so much better! You're probs right about cowboys!

    Stephanie- Thanks! The fabric is definitely better than that ecru!

    Desiree-Thanks! Yes, lessons learned and I hope I never have to do it again! I think I was trying to talk myself into going to Texas since she already was! LOL

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  7. That was a fantastic job on reupholstering those chairs. It looked like it wasn't easy but you did it. Good for you. As for Texas, I'll take Tommy Lee Jones any day and the ZZ Top boys to party with. Yee Haw. Very great post my friend!

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  8. WoW! You did an absolutely great jobs on those chairs. I hope Birdie does great in Texas!

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  9. I am so impressed that you did that. I doubt I would have even thought of the possibility, but what a great change and so inexpensive! Bravo!

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  10. Barb- It wasn't easy--making the fabric fit just right around the curves and on the corners-UGH. I'm with you on Tommy Lee Jones and ZZ Top!

    Betty- Thanks! I'm just glad it's over. I'm sure she will- she's excited!

    blue- I was impressed with myself at first. Now, I'm just glad I don't have to do anymore of them! LOL

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  11. Hubba Hubba for the cowboys!

    I love the look of the chairs but I know how hard it is to do that so I feel ya on that.

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  12. The seat cover came out great. I have some that I need to do that to. They are in okay shape but need to be updated.

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  13. You did such a good job with the chair. Perhaps you can take some of the cowboys I've seen and turn them into some from this post!I've only seen sweaty, grimey ones with horse slobber on them.

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  14. Katie- Right?! LOL Thanks. It took me three days, but I'm done!

    Debby-If I had waited much longer, we would have fallen right through!

    Patrice- Thanks so much! I know cowboys don't really look like that...but a gal can dream, right? LOL

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  15. Great job on the chairs, they look really good, and you can sit proudly each time.

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  16. Mimi- Proudly AND comfortably! LOL Thanks!

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  17. Great job on the chairs! They look like new.

    About Texas...how would you feel about a cowboy son-in-law???

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  18. I love the Chairs, you did an amazing job and the fabric is something that I would have chosen!

    Birdie will have an adventure in Texas! I have been there a few times to visit my brother and we loved the area! Hope she doesn't meet a good looking Cowboy, she may decide to stay there!!

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  19. The chairs look great but y'know what? I really warmed to you with the first pre-work pic!

    As for cowboys, I LOVE em but they've GOT to have horses, cows and neckerchiefs then as long as they're VERY taciturn and tall, I'm smitten. Robert Horton (Wagon Train) was my 10 year old dream best friend but I haven't caught sight of him since :O(

    Rattlebox

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  20. Kathy- Thank you! They sure do feel better! Hmmm...what (who) did you have in mind?

    Shawn- Ah, great minds! LOL She'll be way too busy to find a cowboy...thankfully.

    Jane-Thanks! That pre-work picture was of the chair in the best condition---the others were ripped with foam coming out. Oh I agree with you on the cowboys- I had to google Robert Horton. I remember him!

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  21. WOW! I am impressed! I tried doing that once, and my chairs didn't come out anywhere like yours... Good job!

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  22. WOW!

    You did such a great job on those chairs. You went all the way to the bones and they came out looking just perfect. Way to go!

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  23. This post makes me doubly glad that I PAID someone else to cover my 6 chairs. I paid heavily, but it was well worth it cuz I would never attempt a huge project like this. You are very brave....and they really do look as good as mine for much less $$$$

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