We moved into this house from a much smaller (and newer) townhouse 6 years ago.
It was the perfect starter house; everything was new and in the three years we lived there nothing ever broke.
But, it was too small for a family of 5 and a dog and we found our “dream house” in a slightly older, much larger, single-family house with a yard out in the boondocks suburbs.
Since moving in we’ve purchased a few basic furniture items, put up two new mirrors, hung up some framed photos of The Dudes, and had all of the windows replaced.
We hired someone to paint the main floor because it looked like my children had started brush fires in the corners and rammed shopping carts into every surface at eye level and below.
That happened last summer.
I’ve only recently rehung the pictures.
And, I still don’t have curtains in most rooms.
My couch looks like it’s been sitting in an abandoned, roofless, former crack house in Detroit for the past 6 months. Right next to my accent rug.
I used to blame my kids for such things. Like, no point in getting an end table; they’ll just knock out their teeth on it. And, why bother with fancy tabletop décor and such? They’ll just pick it up and throw it on the ground. Or make it sticky.
Well, I can’t blame them anymore.
My youngest baby will turn 5 on Saturday (whine). And no body better not even think about picking up anything and throwing it anywhere.
Homie don’t play that.
In light of such, I made one of my 2013 New Year’s resolutions to do something about the craptastic state of undecorated affairs around here.
Starting with my beat up bar stools…
So gross, right?!
Not the dog silly, she’s adorable. It’s the trashy chairs I despise.
The Dudes sit in these daily to enjoy breakfast, lunch and, depending on the evening’s activities, dinner too.
That’s code for: they get put through the ringer. Climbed on, jumped off of, slid under, and used to build forts upon. I’m pretty sure that dog has even been on them once or twice.
We purchased them the same week we moved into the house but they look like we found them on the side of the road 15 years ago. We totally didn’t.
So, this weekend I put my gorilla girl, man hands to work on these bad boys and they got a facelift…
While the dog slept.
Aren’t they pretty?! I am so happy with them! And to think I nearly threw these away and purchased another whole set!
I love, love, LOVE the print! I am a little unhappy that I didn’t think to cover them with clear vinyl to keep The Dudes from sticky-ing them up, but I didn’t so instead I’ll have to control them with my yelling parenting.
Want to salvage a stool or two at your house? It’s easy (obviously, I did it)!
1. Go to the fabric store. Pick out something sturdy and fabulous to spruce up your seats. I got mine from Jo-Anne’s. It set me back $44/yard. I got one yard because I’m cheap I planned to cover two chairs. I eyeballed it. You should probably measure. That’s smarter.
2. Figure out how to take your chair apart. Mine required the removal of 6 simple screw-nail thingys. Once I took those out, cushion popped right off of the chair and was ready to be made sexy.
3. Assemble the remaining tools. All you need is the chosen fabric, a heavy duty staple gun, and whatever tools you need to take your particular chair apart (mine just required a screwdriver). Probably you should assemble these before you actually disassemble your stool.
4. Decide what you will do with current upholstery. Me? I left it on. Just cut off the hangy-bits and covered right over it. Figured this would save me tons of time provide extra cushion and comfort for bony Dude bottoms. And also? I’m lazy. Depending on the state of things, you may need to gently remove what’s already there. Loosen the nails/staples on the underside and pull up the existing covering. Or leave it. Like I did.
5. Measure fabric. Lay it flat on the floor, place cushion on top and wrap the fabric tightly around the chair. Like a pretty little gift! You will need about 3-4 inches of overhang to play with on the back side. This time it’s probably okay to eyeball it. But, be sure you have enough. It will make it easier to manipulate around the corners.
6. Speaking of corners. You may need to get creative there. You don’t want to see a bunch of bunched up bits of fabric around your seat, so take your time. Pull it tight, fold it over if necessary. As long as the top is pretty and flat, the underside isn’t much of a worry. Just wrap, pull tight, hold, and staple. And, feel free to use your staple gun with abandon (not reckless abandon, that’s too much, just standard abandon, umkay?!) it doesn’t matter if you have a lot in there. Anyone who lays on your kitchen floor and has a looksee underneath your bar stools deserves to be horrified (or impressed as the case may be).
7. Remove excess. If you’re like me and you maybe relied on your eyeballs to tell you how much fabric to use (even though I told you not to, you rebel!), you may have a bunch of excess fabric on the bottom of your chair. It’s wasteful, but cool. As long as you don’t have too little, you can just cut off the extra maybe use it to make doll dresses or dog shoes and chuck it. If you have a bunch, you probably don’t want to just leave it. As time goes it could start to fray and then you’ll have a bunch of uncomely hangy string things under your stool.
8. Reattach. Line things up, reattach seat to chair. Get ready to be amazed.
9. Be amazed! STOP LOOKING AT THE DOG. Look at the chairs! Because, hello they’re fabulous.
10. Last, but certainly not least, amaze your followers, fans, and real life friends too. Post to Facebook, share on Instagram, blog it up! Well, that’s what I do anyway.
Have some photos you’re Wordful about this week?! Link below and be sure to visit my co-host, Seven Clown Circus, and last week’s featured linkers too!
- Love this better late than never 2012 wrap up on Babies and Bacon.
- The cutest little bedtime reader I’ve seen in, um, basically forever.
- An awesome throw back photo with a note to the pictured 7 year old. Hindsight seriously is 20-20.
- And, a family with their very own sleigh?! Yes, it’s real.
Oooooh! I love reupholstering old chairs! I also love your cute not-so-little dog and the fact that you featured my super cute bedtime reader. :)
I can say with certainty that, while I love these chairs in their new look, I don’t at all love the act of reupholstering things. This is why my DIY projects are sprung out of necessity when my spouse refuses to okay the purchase of something new!
Totally use Scotchguard on the fabric. It will keep staining to a minimum, and keep it a bit more waterproof as well. You can also use Old English and steel wool on the knicks that happen, and you’ll have even newer looking stools, even longer.
I totally get the thing about the walls. Mine look like somebody took a hockey stick to them, from the waist down. What IS that? I would have been killed for less!
I am going to buy Scotchgurad today! I honestly didn’t even know what it was until you mentioned it and Google told me:)
OH wow, they look great! I watched and assisted my Dad recover many a chair in my day. He loves chairs and re-doing old furniture. It never ceases to amaze me how that one little change can do so much! Great job, my friend! :)
Thanks! My mom did it once; I faked an illness to avoid having to help.
Beautiful Amanda! (The dog’s cute too!)
She’s sexy and she knows it! :)
That’s awesome!! Thanks for the tips!
Wow.. they look great! I’m pretty sure that I’ll be doing the same to my dining room chairs in a few year. We bought the set about a year or two ago and like the genius that I am I didn’t scotch guard them and my careful kids may have spilled a little here and there on them. So… in another year or two they’ll look like one hot mess!
It was WAY easier than I thought it would be!
I am beyond impressed. By the chairs. Not the dog. ;)
Look at you fancy-ing up your house one dog..er, I mean two chairs at a time. And telling us how to do it. Rockstar.
I figured if people saw that I could pull it off, they’d know that their dogs could too. :)
The chairs turned out pretty darn good!
You turned a frown, upside down. Good job :-)
Thanks!
OoooOOoooOOOOooooOOOOoooh! Love that! I’m just about ready to reupholster our dining room chairs. They’re all covered in dried food bits and have massive drink and drool stains on them. Eeew. I know… Good job on those stools, Amanda!!!
I’m glad we rarely sit in our dining room chairs. 6 reupholstering jobs might be out of my ability. Certainly out of my desire!
Wow that’s pretty impressive. They look awesome!
Well done!
LOVE the fabric. We have a few random chairs floating around our house that could use a new look. I might have to wait until the husband falls asleep to re-cover his favorite. It’s a hunting/ duck themed piece of furniture that haunts my dreams.
I don’t know if I could pull off something more complex, but these were pretty simple! I love the fabric too and it’s actual upholstery so it’s pretty thick!
Look at you! Getting all crafty on us! This is actually on my to-do list in 2013… re-cover my dining room chairs and 2 bar stools we have in our kitchen that are currently being held together with duct tape! Thanks for showing me that it can be done! (Well, Pinterest shows it too… but that’s done by over-achievers!)
I never trust what I see on Pinterest. Everything there is hard. If I can do it, ANYONE can!
Some day when I develop a DIY gene I’m going to do something fab like this to my chairs.
Great job!
I don’t even have a DIY gene. And, I even have man hands. But, I couldn’t stand these dang things another day so there ya go! I’m in love with the product, the process, not so much!
You’re too funny. You almost make me want to buy used chairs instead of new ones once we move into a bigger home.
Those are fabulous!!
Love your chairs….and dog!!
And when I read your featured bloggers from last week and read about the cool family with their own sleigh, I got excited that we arent the only family with one.
Then I realized it was us! Awesome!! Thanks hun!
I have an antique dining set that desperately needs a facelift. I’m glad to have this simple guide, as many I’ve read are incredibly complicated. I know that some people take their old fabric off and measure it to find out the measurement.
I love when the dog sleeps on his actual bed.
People measure things?! That’s so smart!
I adore the material you picked out for the chairs. Big kuddos to you.
Laurie
You did an awesome job, of course! ;) Love the fabric and pattern – you so ROCK! :)
WW: Unique Kitty Ornament
Best DIY everrrrrr!
I have five seriously dilapidated chairs in my dining room area that are covered in paint and little girl food stains. They are HIDEOUS but I can’t really complain because I got the set for free (Freecycle, hollerrrr!). I am totally going to make my cheap self happy and redo these bad boys instead of hunting for a new set.
Pinning you now!
Thanks! And, good luck. I think the only part that was actually fun for me was choosing the fabric (woot for shopping) and sitting in them when I was done. The rest, blah. Totally easy, but just not my idea of fun. Clearly I was not born a DIYer.
FABULOUS indeed! YAY you!!!!!!!!! That is awesome!
“Screw-nail thingys” & “hangy-bits”, hilarious!!! You did a great job but it’s hard not to look at your beautiful dog!!!
She’s always trying to still my limelight. She’s a diva like that.
Fabulous. I’m impressed.
Your decorating plan sounds exactly like mine! Only we’ve only been in the boondocks for a year. But my chairs need this in such a bad way! Thanks for the instructions. Think I might mail order some industrial strength vinyl for mine though. Beautiful!
your new title is DIY Diva! They turned out great. I think you found a fallback career
I’m amazed!!!
Barstool story: When we moved into a house that we bought way, way back before Cady was born, the previous owner had left these old barstools. They weren’t fabulous, but hey, they were free. We kept them. We are STILL using them. I can’t believe they’ve held up this long. Of course the covering is becoming might sketchy. I’ve been thinking of replacing them, but lacked the… know how? initiative? I guess I just need to go ahead and do it.
They look great! This is on my list too- refuse to buy new chairs when there is so much other stuff I need ;-)
The chairs look awesome!!!
Nice job! I love the fabric and the new look. I seriously need to think about redoing our dining room chairs but that’s way on the bottom of the long list of home stuff to do. You know, with turning a nursery into a big boy room for the almost 2 year old and turning the guest bedroom into a nursery for the new peanut to come. We just put up curtains in our dining room after living here for almost 3 years. Curtains are hard…expensive and the choices are daunting. Baby steps!
That’s whassup cous! Frugality meets ingenuity. My wife has done the same over the years. Saves money and gives one a sense of accomplishment. No sense in spending extra money for something only requiring a little extra time.
Wow ! Totally impressed with how fabulous those chairs look! So does baby dog daughter who’s not so little anymore! I totally suck at doing ANYTHING creative! Closest i came to being creative was filling out a baby book for my second son’s birth.
Wow, those are so great! I am so proud of you and I don’t even personally know you. That’s how great they are!
Great job! I love the fabric! Thanks for sharing @ Submarine Sunday!
Amazing what a pretty little piece of fabric can do to transform a worn out piece of furniture. About the vinyl – my mother covered everything with vinyl which I never understood because she would reupholster often. Anyway, we all hated the the vinyl – so sticky.
Since this area is not visible to the eye, chances are that you can
rip off the wooden bottom of the cushion and not worry about how it looks.
Use a whole lot of paint- Nothing spells spring than redesigning your home with the newest cans of colors.
STEP 5 – Paint the chair with the color of your choice.
You’ve mastered the art of chair restoration. Do I have the money to pay for reupholsters, and if so would if be cost effective over buying new. Such companies usually have international recognition as they comply with ISO standards.
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