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. :)