Reupholstering My $.74 Chair

One day I stopped at the Goodwill to see if I could find some linen and wool clothing to add to my more natural wardrobe ( if you at all read my post on energy you understand what I mean. If you haven't you can find it linked at the bottom of this post). I knew I shouldn't look at anything else or I might end up spending money that I didn't want to spend.

Well, I came across this chair and liked it and I saw a beautiful possibility of it matching my living room and I had to look at the price tag a few times to make sure I read it right. It said $1. It had been marked down twice. I guess they really wanted to get rid of it... so I brought it home, because how can you say no to such a deal especially when you have the perfect spot for it?

I liked the white color but it was stained which you can see somewhat in this picture. I had started taking off the ruffle when I remembered that I wanted to write about how I did it so that perhaps some day it might give someone reading this the encouragement needed to go for it...

There was some interfacing of some kind under the seat that I tore off. Then I took off the ruffle.

Here is how the bottom looked. I do NOT like these old kinds of chair seats with the springs. They are hard on my back...

A better picture...

The edge of the seat...

I used a utility knife to pry the staples out far enough so I can grab a hold of them with a needle nosed pliers. This is how it looked as I started taking the staples off.

The back of the chair after I took the first layer of fabric off. There was a liner underneath. (There was some padding in between that I forgot to put back on at the end).

See how vicious those staples look?

Taking off the arm chair cover and padding to reveal a lining underneath...

I kept all the fabric pieces so I can use them as a pattern.

Along the front of the outside arm panel was this long staple with nearly inch long fangs...

I had to take the lining off most of the way so I could get to all the staples that were holding on the top fabric...

There were 5 fabric covered buttons on the back that I had to take off to remove the fabric. I had no way of reusing them so I trashed them.

The back after I took the cover off...

Taking off the seat cover...

Underneath was some burlap...

You can see some very sturdy springs underneath...

I had never taken apart springs like this so I used my hammer to pry loose the end of the first one. I didn't know which way the spring would go and unintentionally launched 2 nails across my living room, thankfully not damaging anything as far as I know. I took the rest of very carefully after that...

A close up look...

All the pieces, including the piping trim...

Next was the fun part of cutting out the new pieces...

The ruffle was basically 4 donuts sewed together. I cut them apart so I could use them for a pattern.

The last piece I had to cut in half because I was nearly out of fabric...

The edges weren't quite straight so I trimmed them to try to even them out a little bit...

Sewing the edges...

Now I was ready to start giving the chair new clothes... since I'd taken the springs out of the seat I needed to add a new base. I bought some chair webbing (3"wide?) and started tacking it on.

I didn't make sure it was lined up with where I wanted to fasten it on the other end so I had to take the staples out again, and broke the tip off my utility knife blade so apparently these staples were stronger than the original ones.

This time I made sure before I stapled...

Then I fastened it in the back...

I didn't know how to really do it so I just kinda did how I thought.

This is how it looked when I was done...

Then I tacked down the edges...and trimmed them...

I put the burlap back on.

And added the rest of the seat padding tucking it back into the proper crevices.

I tacked the back down first.

Then I went to the front and pulled it firm to eliminate any wrinkles. I started in the center to staple it so it doesn't get lopsided and worked out from there.

Then I finished the sides.

Now I could finally start adding color!

Again starting with the back and then the front...

And the sides...

Then it was time for the arms ...

Now the back..

I started in the center of the back.

Then a staple on either side to keep it situated while stapled all around.

I botched up a bit at the one arm. There was barely enough fabric to cover the padding.

Now it was time to put the lining back in place...

Then it was time to add the ruffle and the last layer of fabric. Woohoo!

Figuring out where the middle of the ruffle was I began in the center of the front and the ends met in the back of the chair.

With the ruffle on now I could add the strip across the front, and then the back and side panels...

Now it was time for the trim. It seemed like to much work to add piping so I opted for trim so that it would be easier to hide the staples.

I had this giant curved needle for a long time before I knew what it was used for and it sure came in quite handy for this part of my project...

I did the back first.

Then the front...

Next the arms...

Now it was finally time for the last strip of trim around the bottom!

I started in the center of the back because that was where I wanted the seam to be but I came to the front the trim was going in two different directions. I decided that I will not redo it because my hands were complaining so much and I was not going to cause them more pain than absolutely necessary...

I left the tape on the one end and tucked the other end underneath, adding a number of stitches to secure it.

And then I was done !!!

I am so pleased with how it turned out! It's a bit wonky but being my first time ever attempting such a project it was very much worth it.

All together I think it took about 5 yards of fabric, around 6-7 yards of trim, 3 yards of webbing, and nearly a pack of 1000 staples.

I used a utility knife and screwdriver to loosen the staples and a needle nosed pliers to remove them. I used a hand stapler and staples to fasten the staples and a hammer to hammer the staples in. The wood was bent oak wood which is a hardwood so the staples didn't go in all the way. And to finish it off, a curved upholstery needle and upholstery thread for the trim.

Oh, and I forgot to say that even though I paid $1 for the chair, when I was taking it apart I found $0.26 which makes it a $0.74 chair. But I put a lot more into fixing it up though... I'd guess roughly $60, maybe more... But maybe the chair is now worth that much after I gave it some new clothes...

Hope you enjoyed this journey and if you have any questions or comments let me know in the comment section... thanks for reading!