Chair Re-do!

Howdy everyone. It's a wet and rainy morning here in Baltimore- and I thought I'd add a little sunshine to everyone's morning by posting some pics of a chair reupholstering Before and After I did recently (I'm so thoughtful- haha!).

I decided about a month ago to completely re-do our boring, and bright yellow office/3rd bedroom- but of course, to get Josh on board- it had to be on the cheap.

I didn't need much in the room, and it was essentially already furnished with a bookshelf and computer table- but it really could use a comfy reading chair, better lighting, and paint (EVERYTHING is better with a new coat of paint!). I decided to rummage around the basement (chock full of goodies from the old house that were just too good to throw away) and see what I could use in this space. I found all sorts of frames, paintings, baskets, and even a slightly used set of curtains and curtain rods. I decided that the 'piece de resistance' would be a super comfy vintage armchair that I would scour the local thrift stores to find on the cheap (less than $50) and then reupholster with a fun and funky print fabric.

I grabbed my little sister, (who for privacy reasons- since she's a young hot college kid- will be referred to as Mini on the site), and went thrift store adventuring in Baltimore. We visited the Goodwill on Bel Air Road and on Joppa Rd (there's also a Salvation Army right across the street). No luck. Finally on the way back home, we stop at this vintage salvage store called, Ryan's Relics, on Bel Air Rd. The place is PACKED with goodies- the key is to find the diamond in the rough (they buy whole estates at a discount and resell the items). Finally in a back corner of the store- we find this gem:

Perfect!

Fabric= Not so Perfect.

It's EXACTLY what I was looking for- and ONLY $25 bucks!...The only downside is the super uggo, basic tan, checkered fabric on the seat. Fortunately, this was going to be my first upholstery project- and I definitely was ready to tackle it. I stopped off at Jo-Ann's fabric in Carney, MD and spent an hour with Mini looking for just the right print. We finally settled on a playful, yet mature gray/black/beige polka dot pattern (2 yard- $4 bucks!). We headed home, and I immediately got to work. I spare you the gory details of hot glue disasters and shredded fabric- ultimately after 45 minutes of hard work- this is the finished product:

Thought about spray painting the chair bright yellow for more fun!

Love this Print!

Great, huh?! I was thrilled! After finishing the chair successfully, the rest of the room was a breeze! I threw up some paint over the weird mustardy yellow- (leftover paint from our bedroom- $Free). Spray painted the old bookshelf a glossy black color ($2.47-Spray Paint)- and hung up the forgotten basement prints and curtains. In less than 2 hours, and for less than $50 bucks- I had this:

You can see our energy saving space heater in this pic!

And Josh in 'energy saving' footie pajamas!

Now I can surf and blog- in style.

*Coming Up Next: Budget Backyard Deck Re-Do

-n+j