Wednesday 29 August 2012

My Weekend in Chairs

 
 
 
As quite a few of you have left comments and sent me emails asking how I was going to revamp the chairs I thought I would dedicate a whole post of pictures to my method.
 
  We were lucky we inherited these good solid chairs from Lovely Hubby's Mum, Jessie, so they are filled with memories for him of growing up in the family home in Peebles.  Jessie came from a generation that kept it's furniture, didn't chop and change with fashion, simply bought what they needed after saving long and hard for it and then it stayed in the family and we are now lucky enough to have these as our 'forever dining chairs'.  As they were they didn't fit in with our style or taste, but that can so easily be altered.  The chairs may have changed but the memories are still there.
 
If you don't already have a  set of chairs to revamp this style of chair can be bought so cheaply in secondhand shops, I've even seen them being sold off for as little as £2 each at the end of car boot sales.  I got my material from Dunelm Mill from the reduced section, it cost me £28.50, but you could use any fabric that you have spare in the house.  Old jeans are brilliant for upholstering seat pads and they look fantastic and wear really well.
 
The top pictures shows the tools you need, I also used 1/4 of a tin of satin paint and 1/4 tin of grey undercoat, 2 paintbrushes, 1 large sheet of sandpaper, a damp cloth, thin pieces of foam and new fabric - nothing else required.
 
 
 
Take your chair.
 
 
 
Pop out the seat pad, a good thump from underneath is usually all you need.
 
 
 
Rub down with sandpaper then wipe with a damp cloth to get rid of all the dust.  Undercoat each chair, leave them overnight to dry, then lightly sand and wipe with a damp cloth again, this gives you a nice smooth surface for your top coat.  Paint with your chosen colour.  Leave overnight again to dry.
 
If you are happy with the coverage that's it, (I  was), if it looks a little patchy simply sand, wipe and give them all another coat of paint.
 
 
 
While the paint is drying you can now get on with the re upholstery of the seat pads.
 
Carefully remove the leather or old fabric, trying to get at least one of them off in one piece.  Use the wooden seat as a guide to cut out your foam.
 
 
 
 
 Use the old seat cover to cut out your new piece of fabric.
 
 


Make sure your fabric is good side down, place the foam and then the wooden seat on top if it.
 
 

 
 
Stretch the fabric round the wooden seat.  Secure with drawing pins at each side.
 
 
 
 
When you are happy with the tension, go round adding as many more pins as you need to hold the fabric securely.
 
 
 
Take time to do your corners, pulling the fabric neatly and pinning securely.
 
 


Ta Da.   Finished chair.
 
 
 
Our Summer look.
 
 
 
And I bought enough fabric for our Winter look. 
 
I thought it would make the kitchen nice and cosy, I also thought the fabric tied in nicely with our colour scheme and has a nod of tartan about it to remind the chairs that they are from Scotland.
 
 
Before
 
 
After.
 
Lovely Hubby said I had done such a good job he would go and buy some chairs from a car boot sale for me to renovate and sell ....... my words to him were completely unprintable on here!! 
 
 I won't lie it was a long and fiddly job, the painting of chairs is even worse for me than painting  window frames, you seem to have so many sides and awkward bits, but the finished article is well worth the effort.  I'm really pleased with these and they should last us a lifetime.
 
Now I'm off for a final sort through of all my clothes and the spare room, we are doing our final car boot of the season on Sunday and I want to be as clear as possible in the house.
 
Sue xx

26 comments:


  1. Wonderful Sue I am so proud of you .

    Jessie will be looking down at her chairs now


    really with it . WELL DONE LOVE MUM XXXXXXXX

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  2. They look lovely - just shows that with vision any item can be re-used rather than replaced :)

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  3. Lovely job Sue. I had some like that in my bedsit in the 70's. I too covered them with some fabric but didn't use foam as the seats were still in good nick.

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  4. We have 4 chairs that are very similar to yours and I suppose they do remind me of my grandparents chairs (subconcious working there when I bought them). We bought them to match an old style sliding oak table we'd bought.

    The wooden chairs look great in our little cottage, alongside our Ingle Nook and exposed beams but I've always thought about changing the seat pads. Now you've inspired me. Thank you Sue and my MIL is always going to D. Mill so I know there is one quite close.

    You are such a lovely person for taking the time to show us all how it's done!

    Sft x

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    1. If you do go to D. Mill have a look on the reduced shelf of fabrics, but really the fabric there is so reasonable, and you don't need that much for 4 chairs like these.

      But you can use all sorts of fabrics to recover your seat pads. If your curtains are too long for your windows you could even snaffle enough to do a couple of seats from the bottom of each curtain and have a totally coordinating room!!

      Sue xx

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  5. I mean subconscious!

    And I agree Jessie would love what you've done.

    Sft x

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  6. I love to see anyone reusing what they already have and you've done a really good job xx

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  7. What a lovely transformation and thank you for sharing.
    Best wishes
    Ellie

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  8. They look absolutely amazing. The step by step guide looks so easy to follow, I think it may be a future project to keep in mind. :)

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  9. Dear Madam Chairperson, can I add my positive comments to the ones above!? I notice you put your first four pins in the centre of each side, then work round to the corners. So many tutorials forget to point out that this keeps the tension so much better. This is a lovely refurbishment.
    I should suggest your lovely other half gets off his gorgeous tractor and does chairs himself if he thinks it it such a good moneymaking idea!!
    three cheers for the four chairs!!!

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    1. What a lovely comment, you made me laugh out loud!! I'll offer my 'tools of the trade' to Lovely Hubby and see if he'll go for it!

      Sue xx

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  10. They are really lovely Sue - a grand job of re use and re purposing :-)

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  11. I love the colours! Our chairs don't have seat pads but I'm going to paint them...thanks for the tutorial.
    Jane x

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  12. Thanks for all these lovely comments. I'm pleased you all like the chairs, they really were a labour of love.

    Sue xx
    Our New Life in the Country

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  13. The chairs look fantastic, well done you!! I have a Lloyd Loom type chair and blanket box to 'do something with'!! You have inspired me to give them a go at the weekend, when the weather is MEANT to be good!!!
    Thank you for sharing your DIY with us all!! Love Heather x

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  14. Beautiful. I don't normally like painted wood furniture as I like to see the grain, but these look so much better than the originals. I don't think I'll do my Yorkshire back Ercol ones though. I do have a 1950s dressing table (only the two side bits, the mirror has been removed) one either side of the bed and a tallboy, that I am thinking of painting, as they're in that limed oak veneer of the period. I know I'll have to empty them all out so that's putting me off a little.

    Love the fabric you have used too.

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  15. Those are really gorgeous. It puts me rather to shame to see you repurposing like something like that whilst we mostly just throw stuff away.
    carbon credit investment

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  16. Chairs look great! Stevie@ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com

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  17. What a fantastic idea to have chairs you can dress according to the season. Love it! :) Now I'm feeling inspired...
    ~S.

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  18. Superb ! You've done a great Job there Sue & Jessie would love the revamp I'm sure. Lovely colour scheme.

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  19. fantabulous! the colour combination works a treat and looks so lovely, love the 'winter' look too. Thoroughly ibnspired I am!!
    BH x

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  20. Brilliant job Sue! I especially like the colour you chose for the paint. Very nice :)

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  21. Brilliant job! I do this a lot as well and have various chairs around the place - one in the potting shed, in my sewing shed, down at the Acorn! You're so lucky being in the Uk though as I used to be able to fond them all over the place there - sadly NZ is a bit less well stocked with lovely old chairs like these!!

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  22. Oh and I forgot, I was going to say - oilcloth - the thinner stuff - works too - its ace if you have wee children cos you just wipe it clean!

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