Sitting Pretty

I don't know about you, but I always have at least two or three projects in the works at any give time. Mind you, any or all of them could still be rolling around in my head, but they're there none the less, waiting to be introduced to the world.

So now, without further ado, I present my most recent (completed) project:

I found this little gem on craigslist a few weeks ago. I had been on the lookout for a chair or two that I could repaint or stain and reupholster. This baby fit the bill perfectly. I loved the lines of the chair and thought that the upholstery didn't look too complicated for me to tackle. Plus, I really wanted to whip out my nail head trim kit one more time!

So hubby and I went to pick it up. I knew right away that hubby wasn't feeling my chair love when he pulled me aside and whispered "Do you like it?"

Translation: "Uhh.. we drove across town to possibly pay money for this old piece of crap? Surely this isn't the same item you saw on craigslist. Just give me the signal and we're outta here."

My response? "Yup!! Load 'er up!"

I did try to offer the girl less money for the chair but she stuck to her guns and I ended up paying the full $30 asking price. If there's one thing I hate it's haggling. It wears me out and really, I didn't think 30 bucks was too bad.

So home we went for a makeover.

I started by unscrewing the seat from the frame of the chair and ripping off the old fabric.

Holy crap, there were about a million staples in this thing! It was a very well made chair, to say the least.

Looks like it was made in 1980. I'm a product of the 80's myself.

Way to go 80's. You've put out some great stuff, if I do say so myself.

Apparently I was in such a groove working on recovering the seat that I failed to capture the moment in pictures. Sorry! You'll just have to take my word for it.

After the seat, I moved on to removing the fabric from the seat back. This baby has upholstery on the front and back sides of the chair and my fingers were feeling it!

After all the old fabric was removed, I sanded and stained the wood. I used a mahogany stain that I already had lying around. I liked the color it was just fine, but I wanted to freshen it up a bit. Again, no pics of this step!

After the stain dried, I started in on the seat back. Since I chose a fabric with stripes, I had to make sure they matched up to the lines on the seat. It just wouldn't do otherwise.

Decor police are hardcore.

I used my fancy shmancy nail head trim kit to tack down the fabric.

This wasn't as easy as I had hoped, but after a few small outbursts and about 10 mangled nails, I finished the job. And I have to say, I'm very happy with the result!

What do you think??

Go check out some other cool projects at A Soft Place to Land & Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party!