New Life for Another Old Chair

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I love giving new life to something old. I just reupholstered this old chair for my mother to use in her bathroom.

I love a cute pagoda and I love the fabric that I used on the back of this chair. I chose to use a solid textured blue fabric for the seat. Let’s take a look at what it looked like before.

I found this chair in a second hand store for $35. That’s a little more than I usually pay for a single chair but it was in very sturdy condition and I knew it was perfect for my mom’s room.

There is a reason why upholsterers charge so much money. It is because it takes a long time to remove all of those darn staples!! I used this staple remover to speed things along. It really is a great tool to have. I’m thinking that if you are taking something to be reupholstered if you took the time to remove the staples first it should be much less pricey since taking the old stuff off is the most time consuming part of the project. You can get this one  from Amazon for about $10 and it is worth every dime! It is eligible for Amazon Prime shipping.

It was hard to get a good picture of the bottom of the chair but I removed the cover from the bottom to work on the springs that had come untied and were bulging out the bottom.

This looks a little better after I retied the springs. I didn’t do anything to the finish of the wood since I like its aged character.

I kept all of the original stuffing including the old springs and horse hair. After a little work and vacuuming up all of the dirt and dust it was ready for the new fabric. I don’t have a picture but I ALWAYS use this pneumatic stapler, also eligible for Amazon Prime and well worth the $30. I have tried many times to use a heavy duty hand stapler and I can never get the staples all the way into the heavy wood frames. I use the stapler with this pancake compressor and I have been very happy with the results I get. All of those tools can be purchased for about $100 total so if you use them one time they are paid for!

Once all of the preparation was done, putting the new fabric on was very quick. Gluing the trim around the edges to cover the staples was a little time consuming and tricky.

The fabric is Ming Pagoda by P Kaufmann in the Zephyr color. The solid blue fabric was picked up on a remnant table so I don’t have the name of it. I already had the gimp trim left from another project.

I love the way it turned out.

If you are interested in seeing some of my other chair rescues click on any of the photos below to see the post related to that chair.

 

 

Thanks for reading and a BIG thank you to those who take time to leave a comment!

I’m linking to Metamorphosis Monday, to Wow Us Wednesday, to Grace at Home, to Thoughts of Home On Thursday, to Before and After Wednesday, and to Anything Blue Friday. Be sure to click the link for lots of inspiration.

Updating the Screened Porch at the Summer Cottage

I recently updated the fabrics on our screened porch at the summer cottage. They were beginning to get a little worn looking after 7 summers.

When we were planning to build our little summer cottage one of the things at the top of our “must have” list was a screened porch. Because our lot is pie shaped our house is only 30 feet wide and 40 feet deep. We insisted on a screened porch all across the back on the lake side. Actually we have double screened porches. I had originally drawn the porch to be 15 feet wide by 30 feet long but the builder talked me into 12 feet wide. His reasoning was that 15 is an odd size for lumber and it would cost less and be less labor if I went with 12 feet wide. 12 feet wide is sufficient but 15 would have been even better!

We spend a lot of time out here and eat most of our meals here too. We love the view of the water.

If you have followed and read this blog then you may already know that I don’t change things very often. When I find something that I like I buy it and I usually keep it for a long time. If you compare the new fabric to the old fabric you will notice that they are almost identical. I searched and searched for a fabric that I love but kept coming back to the old stuff. The new fabric is not identical but it is very close.

The photo above shows the old fabric. When I found that fabric it was the end of a bolt and there wasn’t enough so I had to use a solid color for the backs and bottoms of the cushions. This time I was able to get enough fabric for everything. While the old ones were not torn or worn out the color was a little faded and dingy looking with a little mildew on it. These cushions stay outside 6 months of the year and are stored inside 6 months of the year. It is outdoor fabric. For the new cushions I did take time to put in invisible zippers so that they can be washed if needed. The old cushions did not have zippers. I found the fabric online at fabric.com.  They had a great selection and I was able to order samples for $1.75 each before making my selection.  I was very pleased with my purchase although shipping took longer than I expected, more than 2 weeks.The name of the fabric that I chose is called Snow Leopard by P Kaufmann. (If you missed my dining room update using PKaufmann fabric for wallcovering you can see it here.)

The new fabric had to coordinate with the blue paint on the house without clashing and I think this one does that pretty well.

In the photo above you can also see the old curtains that I used. There were very inexpensive sheers from Ikea, maybe $5.99 per pair! I don’t see those on the Ikea website any more. Those were hung with rings on tiny nails. For the upgrade I went with the cotton Lenda curtains from Ikea. They were $19.99 per pair when I purchased them. Now they are a little more.

So far the curtains have held up very well. They are not outdoor fabric and I did not add waterproofing or any weather protection.

I used the Betydlig brackets and the Hugad rods from Ikea.

All of my Ikea purchases were made last summer so I don’t now if they are still available. If they are not, I’m sure that Ikea has an affordable alternative.

I also made new cushion covers for the dining chairs. I didn’t realize how much the cushions show up due to the tabletop being glass.

I plan to do another post with a fresh tablescape and another more instructional post on putting the porch together step by step.

I hope that you are enjoying this hot summer as much as I am!

I will be doing a follow up post on creating an outdoor room step by step. I hope you will come back to read it too.

I’m linking to Metamorphposis Monday, to Inspire Me Tuesday,  to Wow Us Wednesday, to Thoughts of Home on Thursday, and to Grace at Home. Click the link for lots of inspiration!

Dining Room Before and After–ORC Week 6

Hoorah! I made it to the finish line of the six week One Room Challenge. I was able to completely finish the project on time, even though it was just a couple of hours before we were hosting a party for 50 people at our house!

To say that I am tickled pink with the results would be an understatement! Let’s review what it looked like before.

I don’t switch things up very often and after nearly 30 years I have finally tired of this look. The first step, and by far the most tedious and time consuming was removing the old wallpaper.

A considerable amount of time was spent prepping the walls with spackling and a fresh coat of paint before I applied the P Kauffman “Malawi” fabric to the walls for wallpaper.

I used wallpaper paste to apply the fabric to the walls just as I would wallpaper. I painted the walls behind the fabric and below the chair rail with Valspar “Pam’s Lace.”

I switched out the brass chandelier for this crystal one and gave the mirror a fresh coat of Liquid Gold.

I also made new silk window treatments and covered the chair seats in a beautiful velvet.

This is the view from the foyer that I did last year. You can see that project by clicking here.

I am so pleased with the results! I hope you will click over to Calling It Home to the other projects.

I’m also linking to Thoughts of Home on Thursday at Decor to Adore and to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style.