Now I understand why NO ONE should ever "get around" to reupholstering a chair. Actually... I'm really glad I did it, but I must say it is not for the faint of heart or for those with full-time jobs, or a house that they want to keep looking orderly. Instead, I spent all of my free evenings while Brett was at work pulling out staples (this took a surprising amount of time), making a complete mess of my mother's house where we were living, diligently taking pictures and writing notes to myself, picking fabric, cutting fabric, and then stapling (and hot gluing in parts... shhhh) this chair back together over a few months. Not to mention the sewing involved in the seat cushion and the back, some of which I had never done before - thank you YouTube!
I'm not going to do a tutorial because I think there's already good stuff out there. Here's the blog that I mostly used - although with some "winging it" here and there when it didn't apply (no pun intended).
The only thing I'm going to mention specifically is that the backs of the original chairs were stuffed with what I assume was horse hair... I'm going to continue calling it horse hair... It must be horse hair...If it's something else... I'm very afraid - which was then wrapped in batting making a tube. My process was much more obnoxious (but less disgusting) since I disemboweled a huge body pillow/headboard that Brett made me when we were engaged. He had it stuffed with tiny bits of foam from this warehouse in SLC, which was really cheap and worked great for the pillow, but I tell you I HATE that stuff! It got everywhere! Lindy was finding it on the floor in every room and would stuff it in her mouth thinking it was cheese. I don't know how much she swallowed, but I know I caught her from chocking too many times to count. I tried to just wrap it in batting like the horse hair was, but it would NOT stay in place. So I opted for sewing little tubes which I then had to stuff the foam into with a plunger handle. Besides pulling out the staples it was the most time consuming and definitely the most frustrating part - trying to get it packed tightly, but evenly, and not too tightly, or it's hard as a rock... etc.
There are a bunch of mistakes, but I think most are small enough that the average Jo wouldn't notice them. I notice them because I was face to face with this monster for days on end.
So here it is... the before (of both chairs) and after (one done... one to paint and reassemble).
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Am I proud of myself and this chair? Yes! Yes I am! A little too much probably, which means it will likely sustain a horrible grape juice attack all too soon just so I can be humbled. This is currently the only non-kitchen chair that we have (except that rocking chair I redid, but it's in the baby's room). So if you come over, you can sit in it!
