A Chair Named Pearl... Part 2

This project is going to take me forever! Here are a few updated pictures of part two of my chair reupholster job. It seems I can pull out staples for hours and still have more pieces of fabric to go. So far I’ve finished the back, left & right side outside panels, and the front-back piece.
I won’t go into much detail in this post because for the most part it was the same on this side as it was on the other side.
Here is what I started with.

Up next are the progress pictures. I won’t bore you with the major details, but I pretty much spent 3 hours pulling out staples and marking the fabric so I could use the old as templates.
I have a LOT of pictures of all the steps I took so when I go back to putting the new fabric on I can remember the little quirks and tricks.

Your eyes do not deceive you, the difference in color is really that drastic. And disgusting.

When I finished the outside panels, I took my attention to the front piece. I call it the front-back piece because it’s on the front of the chair, but is where your back will be when you’re sitting down (pretty self-explanatory right?)

The front-back piece was tucked into the sides of the chair and stapled to the back part of the frame. Which for me meant MORE STAPLES.

You wouldn’t believe some of the treasures I found when I was pulling out the staples and pulling apart the fabric. Luckly it wasn’t anything to gross, but there were a few bobby pins and toothpicks… just kinda makes you wonder about her previous life.

Now that I finished the outside, the only parts left are the inside side pieces and the seat cushion. Since it takes me so long to pull out the thousand staples out of the chair, I may have to wait for my next day off to finish. Here is what dear Pearl looks like now. Almost stripped to bare bones, almost.

Since I feel like this post needs some "pretty" in it, here are some pictures I’ve pinned on Pinterest for inspiration on what I want Pearl to look like when I finish. A girl can dream right?


Pottery Barn Landon Armchair ($999 - $1299) 




West Elm - Sweep Upholster Armchair ($499 - $599)




CB2  - parlour oatmeal chair ($699)

 And this little thing, because I like the way it looks even if I would never have that crazy of fabric in my house. It's the same as the above chair from West Elm, just in a different fabric.



West Elm - sweep upholster armchair ($499- $599)


Until next time, you can find me pulling out staples. Hopefully I'll be able to regain feeling in my pinkie and thumb. :)


P.S. Be sure to check out the inspiration websites (here, here, and here), there is a bunch of great stuff on all their sites!

A Chair Named Pearl... Part 1

Today I began what is quickly looking like a very LONG process. WAAAAY back in June, I visited my local Habitat ReStore. There I found this beauty. 

Ok so maybe she is no Cindy Crawford of chairs, but she did have a nice shape and was in good quality, I just needed to change her outfit. And boy did I ever, this velour upholstery that was covering the chair right now is not shabby chic, it’s just plain shabby.

The price was the only thing beautiful about her. FIVE DOLLARS, and this was actually a sale price, the original price was $35. Who could pass up a deal like that? I figured even if made a complete mess of things, I was really only out the price I would pay for new fabric.

I laid out some ground rules for myself.

1.       Do as much research as possible. The internet is a suitcase full of different references.

2.       Do NOT spend a lot of money on fabric. I would like to keep it around $40.

3.       Take lots of pictures (not just for the blog, but to remember how it was put together)

**Disclaimer** I am in NO way whatsoever a professional. I wouldn’t even consider myself an amateur, when it comes to upholstery I am completely a novice.**  I’ve seen plenty of website where they have reupholstered chairs, and for the most part it looks relatively easy.  So three months later, I decided it was time to try my hand and upholstering furniture.  Here will be the good, the bad, and the ugly.

First thing’s first, I needed my tools. I grabbed a lot, but for the most part in this stage I mostly used  small flathead screwdriver and needle nose pliers.

 I started out taking off the skirt of the chair, working my way backwards till I found the beginning.

 I made sure to label each part of the chair so I can save them and use them as templates for my new fabric.

Whoever upholstered the chair before did a very good job stapling, it felt like there were a million. So after the skirt was off I took the black covering off the bottom, and started taking out the staples of the bottom.

Some of the sides used cardboard and staples to keep thing neat and straight, so I made sure to label those so I can do the same thing.

I also found out that a few of the pieces were attached using upholstery tacks, so I made sure to label those as well. Even though I would probably get new tacks, I can use these for the length I’ll need.

Removing the staples seems to take forever, even if you weren't the one removing them. J

I worked my way around from the back to the side, and took note that the sides of the back panel were sewn to the sides of the chair.

After so of the panels were taken off, I was able to pull off the cording (or welting?). I have also tried to label each part so i can keep them straight. I'll probably just reuse this cord, so hopefully I'll be able to position everything correctly.

After about 3 hours and 1000 staples, I was pretty tired. My thumb was red and numb, so I decided to quit for the day. So far I’ve removed the skirt, back and right side of the chair. Here is what my beauty, who I’ve named Pearl, looks like so far.

And here is the pile of staples (and some other items) that were removed.

The next steps will be to continue to remove the rest of the old fabric, then use these as a template for the new fabric.  Hopefully it wont take another three months. :)