More Rescued Chairs

I have had a very productive week and was able to complete the set of dining chairs that I recently rescued. It was a lot of work but I love how they turned out.

Let me remind you what they looked like when I found them for a whopping $20 each.

It took quite a while to remove all of those nail heads.

Then I had to remove all of the staples.

I actually got a big blister in my palm from that!

Eventually they were deconstructed and ready for a new look.

All of the chairs appeared to be the same size but just in case, I numbered each seat, cushion, and back to make re-assembly go smoothly.

I started with a coat of primer.

Next came two coats of paint and a glazing stain.

I upholstered the seats first.

A few notes about upholstery.

I always buy a fabric that I love even if it costs a little more. Upholstery is too much work not to LOVE my project when I am finished. I bought 3 yards of fabric at $20 per yard. I had to cut very carefully and had almost no scraps left. A professional upholsterer would have used much more fabric.

I always use my air strike stapler. Even an electric stapler is not strong enough to get the staples all the way in the wood frame. You can purchase a good air stapler and compressor for less than $100 at a tool store like Harbor Freight.

One key to professional looking results is getting the fabric nice and tight. It makes all the difference in the world.

You may notice a small piece of green tape just above the front leg in the photo above. I used the tape to mark the fabric so that all of the pieces were cut and stapled the same direction. It probably would not matter with this fabric but some fabrics would look like a different color if all pieces were not cut and stapled the same direction.

 

I used a sharp razor blade to trim the fabric around the seats. I had to use a new blade for every seat.

The back part of the back, shown above, was stapled on from the front side.

You can see in the photo above that the back part of the back has already been stapled to the frame and the front part of the back is ready to be glued on. Both pieces are thin pieces of wood and are held together by construction adhesive.

Next the front part of the back was glued on.  I had to use several clamps to hold the backs together until the glue dried.

The final step was sewing the double cording and gluing it around the edge of the seats to cover the staples. That was a lot of cording!

Let’s take a side by side comparison look.

I love it when a plan comes together!

I hope to be back tomorrow with a follow up post!

I’ll be linking to the Scoop at Worthing Court, to Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life, to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, to Wow us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style, and to Grace at Home at Imparting Grace.