Tuesday, September 9, 2008

before and after chair with a little tutorial

With little effort and basic skills you can have a brand new, customized chair in no time. Reader, Briana, asked me if I'd give a tutorial on how I created my new padded chair. I'm not an expert (this was my first time), but here are the steps I took. Luckily, I obsessively document, so I have a few pictures to tell the story.


1. Remove seat and back pads. You will need a screwdriver. Repair any tears. Duct tape works...since it won't show.


2. Make a pattern of your cushion's shape by laying it on newspaper and add several generous inches all around.
3. Choose your fabric; heavy-weight decorator fabric is recommended. I don't always follow the rules and used linen...it seems fine, but we'll see how it holds up.
{ The following are the "detour" steps if you want to create your own fabric. Cut a piece of freezer paper the same size as your cushion and sketch your design directly on to it. Adjust details and placement by laying it over the cushion.

Cut out your stencil...check out my tips here.



Center your cushion onto fabric and create a masking tape frame. This will help you with placement of your design. Now continue with basic freezer paper fabric printing.}


4. When you cut out your fabric make sure that any graphic print is centered where you'd like it.
Place your cushion upside down on the backside of the fabric. Check once more for design placement.
5. Start stapling. Use a heavy duty staple gun and place two staples on each of the four sides to begin. Now follow around, pulling fabric taut as you go. Tuck in corners neatly and evenly.



6. Bolt cushions to chair frame.


7. Enjoy your new chair and feel proud of your furniture rescue! I'd love to hear your stories about furniture make-overs.



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28 comments:

  1. YAY! You are such a generous blogger. :) Thanks for the tutorial! I have a great mid-century chair that could definitely use a face lift. You made it look so easy!
    Thanks again Maya!

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  2. SO gorgeous! I love how it turned out and that you shared your process with us! I'll be linking to this!

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  3. WHat a satisfying project that must have been. It's an amazing transformation!!

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  4. I have just the chair in mind for a transformation--it was a trash find that has been sitting in my basement for a while. I had to reglue one part, but it's ready for the redo. Thanks for the tutorial and tips!

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  5. Maya, that chair is just beautiful!

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  6. Just amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!

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  7. this is so interesting and i must say i admire how you make this look like an easy project.

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  8. I'm in love and swooning over that chair transformation! Beautiful. And if you haven't done it already would you mind adding it to the furniture redo pool on flickr:
    http://www.flickr.com/groups/furniture-redo/

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  9. Nice job. The chair looks great.

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  10. Gorgeous!!

    I love this! I used to do this kind of thing years ago - I'm inspired to try again! Thank you!

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  11. it is a wonderful tutorial thank you

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  12. What a fabulous chair you created! I love the design!

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  13. So beautiful--found this through design*sponge. Thanks for sharing! I'm really impressed with your stencilling skills, too--especially the part where you have the petals free-floating in the middle. Fabulous job!

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  14. It's very lovely but I have a question - I understand how you recovered the seat portion, but how did you do the seat back? Did that come off as well?

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  15. I'm in love with this chair. Wonderful job!

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  16. Oh I'm inspired! I need to find myself a chair to makeover!

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  17. Aww... beautiful chair!! Thanks for sharing!!

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  18. thanks for sharing how you did this. =) however, i'll bet it doesn't look as easy as you make it look ;) inspiring.

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  19. Just Lovely. I have cream dining chair seats with piping that I want to replace! I have to figure out how to get the cushions off first!!

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  20. Absolutely gorgeous. I love the color combination. Great job!

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  21. I came across your blog at "A Soft Place to Land". I love this idea! I am all about Whimsy and this chair says just that! Thanks for the great tutorial! Now a follower of you blog and can't wait to see more of your creative ideas!!!

    Hugs to you,
    ~Victoria~

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  22. Love it! The stenciling is a beautiful touch!

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  23. PLEASE RESPOND! I have to know what is behind the chair! I have a log cabin and in our finished basement we have barnwood walls. Is that PAINTED barn wood??? I have wondered for the 5 years we have lived in our home how in the world to liven up our grayish brown barn wood walls! Email me at sherylmgent@yahoo.com

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  24. sheryl~ yes! painted barn wood. we cut out a section for french doors and then brought it in for the stair well wall. old paint (probably with lead) would flake off, so we sealed it with a white wash of paint. brightened up the whole room and is a favorite backdrop for photoshoots.

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  25. How did you do the top pf the chair?

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  26. Hi there,I enjoy reading through your article post, I wanted to write a little comment to support you and wish you a good continuationAll the best for all your blogging efforts.

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