Dining Chair Reupholster

So, you remember the whole dining chair journey I've been on? Well it's finally come to an end! I reupholstered the chairs this weekend and I think they turned out great. Here they are before:

This is the fabric I decided on Maharam Droplet in color Willow. It's stain resistant perfect for our dining room.

The whole process is pretty easy, anyone can do this! All you need is a flat head screw driver, scissors, and a staple gun.

I started by taking the seats off the chairs using the screw driver. I was a little concerned about how I was going to cover the upwards curve of these seats but after I got started it wasn't so bad.

These chairs had so many staples!!!!!!!!!! It was never ending.

Of course it's not so bad when you have someone helping you.

Check out the psychedelic fabric underneath! 

Anyway after I got all the staples pulled out and the fabric peeled off I traced the original covers onto my new fabric to ensure a perfect fit.

Then cut them all out.

A couple of the chairs were loose around the joints, so I used some wood glue to refasten them. This made them ultra sturdy.

After dripping pasting some of the glue into the crevices with a small paint brush I wiped it clean with a paper towel.

Then is was staple gun time! I used 1/4" staples, the smallest ones my staple gun would take.

I started by stapling the center of the four sides first, pulling tight each time. Then finished it off stapling the the rest of the fabric down. 

I folded the corners in on each other to clean them up.

If you want a more detailed tutorial on how to do this check out this video. They used new foam for the seat but the foam on my chairs was in good shape so I just reused it.

After that was all finished I just screwed the seats back on and was done! Pretty easy. Here they are in all their newly upholstered glory:

And here's the whole set together:

What do you think? I for one am in love and I'm one step closer to finishing up my dining room.

Newly Painted Sunroom

I am so excited to share my newly repainted sunroom with you! The paint has made such a big different in the look and feel of the room I couldn't be happier with the results. Here are the befores. These pictures were taken not long after we moved in 3 years ago. We've since added more furniture but the pictures give you a good idea of the color the room was before.

It's a room that has a lot of functions. We now have a fold out couch in here for when company comes, it where we keep most of the cat/dog supplies when company is not in town, and a general hang out space.

It's a large room with lots of windows and light, but with the dark paint color on the walls and ceiling it makes the room feel uninviting.

We already did a little work replacing the light fixtures. This is what we had before:

We replaced them with this and a ceiling fan:

When I decided to tackle this job I wanted a light color, but that was neutral as well. I am still in the process of designing the room and am not sure what accessories or fabrics I'm going to bring in in the future. So I settled on Sherwin Williams Liveable Green. I thought it fit my requirement and would go well with the color of our sofa and newly painted end tables.

Once I decided on color it was time to prime! I had tried to get away without priming when we repainted out living and dining room and really regretted it. I ended up paint 3 coats to paint over the dark brown  with the lighter tan to get the right color.

Ok, I know the priming job is a bit splotchy. It may or may not have something to do with the fact that I was drinking wine and eating Girl Scout Cookies while listened (and partial dancing) to ABBA Gold. Hey, after working 8 hrs, chasing a 1.5 year old around the house then finishing the day off painting a whole room by yourself you need a good soundtrack.... and good wine.

Or maybe it was the help I had...

 Anyway, one of the reasons I put off painting this room for almost 3 years is the STAIRS! They take forever to paint around.

So not to keep you in suspense any longer here's the final result!

I think it looks fabulous! It's so much brighter and more inviting. The room seems so much bigger now! It's still a work in progress but this is a much needed improvement.

Don't you love the dramatic difference paint can make!?

It's Here! It's Here!

I've got a date this weekend. No it's not with my husband unfortunately he's working. It's with my dining chair fabric! It came in!

The hubs got home before me and didn't even tell me. I had to discover it on my own. Look at it leaning inconspicuously in the corner.

Even Con-Man is excited!

Hey Mom when are you going to reupholster my chairs?

And since I can't keep a secret the room I repainted it the sunroom! I'll have a post on the newly painted room for you to read about this weekend while I tackle reupholstering 6 dining chairs while caring a 19 month old. It's going to be awesome!

What's Next?

While I'm waiting (im)patiently for my dining room fabric to come in here's a peek of what I'm working on right now:

Ohh! What color is that? What room is getting painted? I can't wait to show you!

Dining Chair Fabric Decision

So as to not keep you in suspense an longer I've made a decision on Dining Chair Fabric! Thank you all for your input and suggestions. I was having a hard time deciding between the Teardrops and Spirals.


I went with the Teardrops!

I liked the contrast of color between the fabric and wood on the chairs, and from far a way it reads somewhat solid so I don't think I'll get tired of it. So it's on order and I can't wait until it comes in to reupholster my chairs!

Fabulous Reader Questions and Exciting News!

So much to talk about I'm not sure where to start!


I'll start with a question one of my readers sent me about my post about the Anthro Drawer Knobs I purchased last week.

Nat from the blog Almost Never Clever said:


Love this! My mom has a set of drawers with a marble top that is very similar.

Question - Did you find that the length of the bolts on the drawer pulls were too long? I've been lusting after some fancy drawer pulls from Anthro, but the bolts look too long, like they'd poke out on the other side too far.




First of all thanks for stopping by my blog! To answer your question about the length of the rods of the drawer pulls, yes they are a little long for the drawer faces. They stick out the back about 1/4" which doesn't bother me since we mainly keep DVDs in the dresser. But I would think if you wanted to shorten them you could cut them pretty easily since the rods are thin. I have a Dremel tool I might use to do this, or if you stop by Home Depot they may have a tool you can use to cut them with.



Let me know how it goes and thanks again!
 
 
And now for some exciting news. I don't know how many of you read the blog Made By Girl (If you don't you should check it out). Anyway I entered her contest for a stencil giveaway and I won!

I enter blog contests all the time and this is the first time I've won! I can't wait to get it and use it. Thanks Jen!!

Hope everyone has a good weekend!