This chair, which is actually a pair of two identical chairs, was such a great find! I found these chairs at Goodwill for $12. $12 for the pair. I was in love. I love the cool detail on the back of the chairs and cool angles of the legs and sides. The wood was in okay shape, just had a lot of scratches and some parts that needed some good ole' wood glue to keep the chair sturdy. But the fabric was the worst part. A dark brown, rough, itchy, commercial-carpety (I think you get the feeling) kind of fabric. I could not wait to start this redo.
+ For these chairs, I sanded them heavily where the original stain was basically nonexistent. I did a deep sanding job because I want to smooth out a lot of the scratches and nicks. You do have some options here though. You can lightly sand if your piece is in good shape and use a good quality bonding primer like Glidden Gripper. This will help your paint really adhere to the surface. (Note: for the Glidden primer, use the white primer for light colored paints and the grey one for more vivid colors.) For mine, I sanded and used a Behr paint that had the primer built in. I highly recommend their paint and primer in one. It saves time and I've never had paint chip off later on.
+So you've either sanded or lightly sanded and primed. Now the fun part! The COLOR or final paint! Of course you need at least two coats but three if it helps your color become more vibrant. For the turquoise, I did two coats. After the first coat is dry, I really needed to take a look at my chair under good lighting. I missed a lot of little areas and was able to cover them with the second coat just fine.
+Once you've got a nice even coated chair with gorgeous looking color, you have some options as far as sealing. I did not seal mine, but for a piece that you will use heavily its a good idea. There are two options for sealing, a clear polyurethane topcoat or some people like to use wax. With waxing, you wax on wax off Daniel Son style and buff it out. With the poly coat, you just paint it on. I have always just used this poly coat...
***And now for the final product....***
Oh la la...
As far as reupholstering the seat, don't be intimidated! This was my first time recovering anything. All you need is scissors to cut your fabric and a staple gun to staple the fabric in place.
+First, lay down your existing grossly covered seat on top of your new, awesome fabric. With the print or pretty side of your new fabric facing down. Leave roughly an 1 1/2 to 2 inches extra on all sides. Cut your piece of fabric out.
+Next, I would highly recommend checking out how the original fabric was folded over and stapled. This will just give you a good, general idea of how you'll staple things down. But you don't need to follow exactly how it was done. I like to start with the sides and save the front and back for last. Start with one side and starting in the middle, staple all the way down the side leaving about a half inch in between each staple. Now, when you do your other side, be sure to start again in the middle and pull your fabric extremely snug and tight!
+ Once, you've got your sides done, your main issue will be how to fold your corners. It's not that bad. The basic step with folding your corners is you want to create a pleat. I know, pleats are bad when it comes to pants but in this case they're okay :-) To pleat your corners, pull your pointy corner back towards the center of the seat and staple. Now pull each side back toward the center again and staple each side down. Here is a look at the front of my seat...
+Now once you get your corners pleated and stapled down, just screw your seat back in and you are good to go! If you have excess fabric above where you've stapled, you can just trim that stuff off. And there you go, you've got yourself one fancy chair! And taking a piece that was less than desirable and making it awesome again is a great feeling. Sit back, relax and stare at the amazing thing you just made!
Now, a nice gratuitous before and after shot....
