Reupholstery project part 1....

 Might be awhile before I get to part 2 but wanted to get some before and some 'started' pics uploaded before they get lost somewhere.  This is a little chair that was picked up off the side of the road years ago - 2009 or 2010. Then it sat in my shed for several years before I attempted to work on it. Then it got abandoned and has sat in my room with a blanket or sheet thrown over it since. Hopefully I will finally get it done in the new year but here we go...

What I started with and then I stripped everything off and attempted to do what I could with what I had to fix up the springs and underside. Not perfect but certainly an improvement. 

When I started this project I was doing all the tacking by hand with upholstery tacks. Hopefully I will have a new pneumatic staple gun in a few weeks+, so I can get the job done!

Dressing table/vanity makeover

This is a vanity/dressing table my husband picked up for me free at the end of a neighborhood yard sale. I don't have room for it in my bedroom or bathroom, so in the meantime it's been in my daughter's room. I've been giving her room a bit of a makeover and this was part of it. She's into Japanese (and manga) so I'm incorporating a few Japanese touches into her room. I'll be adding some vinyl to the walls, but the paint is fresh and I need to wait for it to cure before I can do that, about a month. Stay tuned. LOL Anyway, here is the vanity before. It wasn't in the best shape (and still isn't) but it's improved with some fresh paint and fabric. And here it is in her room after the makeover. This is the chair closer up - I took the pic both without flash and with. I used a dark brown spray paint for both pieces and brocade fabric with Asian motifs for the seat. I had to find something that would work with the fabric in THIS QUILT I had previously made for her. You wouldn't think it would go, but the colors actually work even if the style of the quilt doesn't exactly go. LOL The gold threads in the chair work with the yellow in the quilt, the green background actually works with the colors in the green blocks and even though the color in the brocade is actually a purplish shade, with the way the light reflects off the fabric it still works pretty good with the pink. Not that you'd notice much with the chair, but I'll be making a matching pillow for the bed and possibly a runner to go across her dresser.

Reupholstering a simple stool

I haven't posted anything in awhile so I thought I'd get around to redoing the cover of my sewing stool. This method works for a lot of simple upholstered seats. This is my stool before. It originally had a vinyl cover which I removed and reupholstered in this fabric several years ago. It's gotten pretty filthy and I've long tired of the fabric. It caught my eye when I first saw it but I ended up not caring for it all that much after a little bit. Now what you want to do is lay your seat facedown on the fabric and make sure you have enough to cover the seat with it pulled over the sides. I also like to fold the edges under. Remember 'measure twice, cut once'. It doesn't matter if you do it before or after you remove the old fabric. If the old fabric isn't all torn up, you could actually use the old piece as a 'pattern' for cutting the new piece but with something this simple it really isn't necessary. You also never know if the piece you're replacing is giving you enough leeway to work with. I'd just like to point out I *can* staple better than this but my stapler just doesn't like to work right and wouldn't go into the wood very well so they're all wonky. Which of course is bothering me but at least you can't see it and it's still holding the fabric. There was no way in hell I was using upholstery tacks (see my entry about reupholstering a sofa!) Anyway, some people start with the sides, I like to start with the corners and have them underneath. So, go around and do your 4 corners, pulling your fabric taut. Then do the sides. You do opposite sides first like here. Start in the middle and then work your way out on each side. Pull your fabric taut especially when you are doing the side opposite to the one you just finished. You want your fabric tight and smooth. Here's the finished stool. It has storage under the seat so it doesn't fasten to it, it sits on a lip inside the edges. Ah, much nicer and it looks better in my room, too!

Reupholstered couch

This is something I did last fall. I've made a couple of slipcovers before, but I've never actually done a reupholstering job. But our couch had gotten so bad, it was do or die. My mother-in-law had gotten this Ethan Allen sofa at a yard sale for $20 about 2 years ago? Maybe 3 - who knows when time just passes by. Anyway, it wasn't in really horrible shape like in these before pics (though the patches on the back were already there). But it just kept wearing down and getting worse with use. Couldn't afford to have someone else do it. Reupholstering this thing was LITERALLY blood, sweat, and tears. And a near broken toe 'cause I tripped on the vacuum cleaner cord. And a few bruises. And took me a week. I've guesstimated I've used at least 600 tacks, of which most were 3/8" and required using tweezers to hold them while hammering. I tried 3 staplers, none of which would work right and I couldn't afford a good one with an air compressor. *click pics if you want larger* This shows with the cushion facing up - all torn. And the underside (it wasn't a reversible cushion) which we ended up using because the right side was all torn up. Front and back of finished sofa. The original cushion cover only had piping on the top side. I put it on both sides because the cushion can be flipped over. You might not be able to tell, but there's piping around and down the front of the arms, around the whole bottom, and across the back. So after all that, I thought maybe I'd never reupholster a couch or chair again! LOL Til we found a little chair on the side of the road. (I think it's a 'boudoir chair'.) My hubby refused to get it at first. I was bummed. But then just a day or two later he was out on his own and he ended up bringing me back the chair. LOL Looks like it was stored in a barn or a cellar. It will have to be taken down to the bones with new padding/batting put on. Just maybe I'll get to it this summer! (and the other projects on my list a mile long!)