DIY Reupholstered Living Room Chairs (aka The Worst Project Ever)

Have you noticed a theme with DIY blog posts? How they often start with something like, "This project was so quick and easy! It only took me 30 minutes! Simplest thing I've ever made!"

Here's the intro for my project: this was the most obnoxious DIY project I have ever undertaken. I hated almost every second of it, it took nearly 2 full days to complete (and I really do mean full, as in, I did nothing else for 2 days straight), and although I like the outcome, I don't think this is a project I will tackle ever again. 

In general, I make things myself for two reasons: 1) I love the process . . . just plain creating something is fun for me, and 2) I can't afford to not make it myself . . . if I don't make it on my own, I can't have it, period. This project falls solely into category number 2. If I ever get tired of the look of these chairs (please sweet heavens no), I will hopefully have enough money to pay a professional to do it for me. 

All right. So now that you are fully informed on just how much I despised working on this, and won't be fooled into thinking this is a simple, easy, 30-minute DIY project, here are the chairs that nearly killed me:

I reupholstered the crap out of those suckers. Look at them, sitting there so smugly, mocking me and my poorly-informed ideas about how easy they ought to have been to re-cover. I can hardly decide if I love them for what they are now, or hate them for how they crushed my innocent DIY spirit.

Why were they so horrible to reupholster, you ask? We'll start at the beginning. 

When I purchased these chairs a few years ago, I loved their modern shape and thought their argyle-patterned fabric was pretty fun:

But after 4 years in a room that was various shades of brown from top to bottom, I was dying for some color, and these chairs were (conveniently) looking very worn out. 

I knew I wanted a bright red fabric for my chairs; at first I had my eye on this Amy Butler fabric, which I estimated I would need about 7 or 8 yards of, bringing the cost of this project to about $63. I know that's not a huge price tag for "new" chairs, but I really can't overemphasize how cheap I am, so I dragged my feet for weeks, unwilling to shell out $60+ for a project that, to be honest, I wasn't 100% confident I could accomplish.

Then we stopped at Home Fabrics on a whim, and holy moly, it is the best store of all time. We got the cream rug that's now in our living room (pictured above) for about $30, an adorable red houndstooth home decor fabric for my chairs for $3 per yard, and a few yards of quilting cotton for $2 a yard (project unknown). I have never seen prices like that before . . . unbelievable. So the cost for reupholstering these chairs rang up to a whopping $18, and I have at least 1 or 2 yards of chair fabric left over (I'm picturing matching family outfits for a matchy-matchy family picture on our new chairs . . . that would make the best Christmas card ever).

 

(See how we're smiling? We don't know what we're in for yet)

My mom is an angel, and offered to help (or did I drag her unwillingly along, kicking and screaming? Can't remember now, I've repressed the upholstering memories). We started tearing those chairs apart, foolishly excited over their soon-to-be new look. It didn't take long for us to realize that whoever made our chairs must have had a friend in the staple business . . . I don't know how many staples exist in the world, but I think about 90% of them were used on my two chairs. And we didn't know there was such a thing as an upholstery staple remover, but I'm going to wager a guess that it would have been $14 well-spent. We used screwdrivers and pliers to pry thousands of staples loose to remove the fabric (which is, shockingly, even less fun than it sounds). This was the part that made this project so awful--the de-assembly took forever. Putting it back together honestly wasn't too bad, but by that point I was so frustrated by how long it had taken to remove the old fabric that I hardly cared how it looked anymore . . . I just wanted it to be done (it's about to get a little grody in here, but it really reminded me of giving birth . . . at some point, I really stopped caring about how it happened, the little birth plan they had me write while I was pregnant was tossed out the window, and I just wanted it to end. I even used one of the completed chair backs as a focal point to keep going through the horrible labor of the rest of the chairs . . . and that's where the metaphor stops.)

I cut the fabric apart along the seams and used them as pattern pieces (make sure you add in a seam allowance), and sewed new seats for the chairs:

Add in some piping (my first time sewing piping! It was the only easy part of the project), and we were ready to reassemble the chairs:

A million staples later, they were completed, and although I don't think I'll ever want to reupholster anything ever again, I have to admit that I really like how they came out:

No one will ever mistake them for professionally upholstered pieces . . . they have plenty of little mistakes that I was too tired to fix, or just didn't know how to do. Although I'm tempted to only show you the pictures that make them look perfect, they certainly have their flaws . . . for example, I didn't even attempt any sort of print-matching at the seams, and you can see that my sewing was a bit sloppy:

And there are some funky areas where the fabric was pulled too tightly (notice the houndstooth dipping in the middle of the seat here), as well as the wacky chair bottoms:

I'm not sure if this is standard, but there is a panel of black fabric that velcroes along the bottom of the chairs to hide their ugly innards, and I obviously didn't reconstruct it correctly, since it's gapping all over the place. And not pictured are the impressive puckers at the back of the seats (can you spot them in the last photo, down at the bottom of the post?) or my staple-removing-induced arthritis. But you know, the little imperfections really don't bother me much . . . I'd rather have it done than perfect. 

For comparison purposes, here is a living room semi-before picture (but picture the trunk still being brown, and the lamp not being there at all):

Even Forrest hates it. So . . . brown. 

And an almost-done picture . . . minus all the boring brown pillows, minus the worn-out argyle print chairs, plus some fun sort-of-new chairs, an area rug, and some color via a solitary pillow, lamp, and trunk:

Still on the to-do list for this room:

- curtains (I'm at a loss for curtains . . . do I go with something colorful or neutral? What color? Patterned or plain? Long drapes or a simple shade? Any thoughts?)

- pillows for the couch (I'm struggling to find a BIG, bold red print to use for the pillows, although I'm thinking of maybe getting just a yard or two of that Amy Butler fabric I considered for the chairs)

- wall art . . . we've lived here almost 2 months now and there's still nothing on the walls

What do you think? Were my chairs worth all that work? Have you ever tried your hand at reupholstery? If so, and if you did a great job and love it, I'm just going to hire you when Forrest inevitably spills grape juice on my new chairs. There are some things Scotch-guard just can't foresee.

(I'll be milking this horrible, horrible project for all it's worth at these link-ups)

Happy Lamp Makeover

I normally don't really get into home decor projects too much--I love seeing what other people make, but I just haven't ventured there myself, up until this recent move when I decided I was tired of living in a place that didn't look at all like me. So hopefully you don't mind the little break from my normal sewing and crochet projects while I decorate my place. And if you do mind . . . well, sorry. I don't really know what to tell you.

The two posts I've made so far about my home decor endeavors were about my door decor and my trunk makeover . . . so if you put those two together you get the colors I wanted to use in my main room: red and yellow! Which are a huge, much-needed change from the rainbow of beige tones I used to live in.

My mom (a super cool interior designer and owner of Amenities and Bungalow Boutique, two fun design and handmade craft shops in Heber, UT) gave me this lamp, which she had sort-of-accidentally ordered for her store but really didn't like:

Hmmm. I can definitely understand why she didn't think it worthy of a spot in her stores! I don't know if this photo accurately captures its ugly duckling-ness, but it was a very awkward-looking gray matte color with a clunky lampshade (the same one pictured in the after pictures below). It was just really boring and kind of weird-looking. It was such a sad lamp. If it were a person, it would be grumpy all the time. And gangly and lurpy, with a gigantic head.

She gave it to me (she's so generous, giving me her ugly accidental purchases) with the comment that she thought it could look nice if it got painted.

And yellow was a huge improvement! I just covered the base with newspaper to protect it, and covered up that grouchy gray color with a few coats of a bright sunny yellow spray paint. (and, in case you were wondering, yes, that is the only pillow I have for my couch right now, which is why it keeps working its way into every living room picture that I take. And you know it's time to get moving on sewing pillows for your couch when even your husband says, "Are we really only going to have one pillow on the sofa? Can you please make some more?")

But I wanted the living room to be yellow and red, and so far the only red was on the front door (which doesn't contribute much to an indoor color scheme), as well as some red on the opposite side of the room from what you can see here (it just so happens to be the red project that I mentioned almost killing me last week . . . I'll show you real soon! I conquered it! Take that, you horrible project!), so I thought this half of the room needed a little red, too. Not to mention that the lamp still looked a little bland to me. It was getting less grumpy, but it still seemed slightly depressed.

So I made some felt flowers, modeled after these ones from I Am Momma, Hear Me Roar, and hot glued a little cluster of them onto the shade.

Much better! I think those flowers give the lamp just what it needs to stand out, not to mention pulling in a little of the red from the other side of the room. And doesn't it just look happy now? It makes me smile whenever I see it (and considering the size of our apartment [not very big], I see it an awful lot). A nice happy lamp makeover!

I'll be posting this lamp makeover at some of these link-ups . . . and I'm excited to show you my red project. You know how people always start a project post with, "This was so fast! So easy! Anyone can do it! It'll take you 20 minutes!" I'm not going to lie to you, folks . . . I hated this project. It was not fast. Nor was it easy. It took closer to 20 hours than 20 minutes, and when I say there were blood, sweat, and tears involved, I really do mean all three in a very literal way. But hopefully you'll pat my head and tell me I did a good job anyway so I can start leaning more towards the love end of the love/hate relationship I'm having with this project. Stay tuned.

DIY Trunk Makeover

For years and years, I've pined for a steamer trunk. I just love the look of a big, clunky old trunk in a living room, all worn-out looking with lots of rusty metal pieces. And I wanted one. I wanted one bad. And (joy of joys!) for Christmas two years ago, guess what I got? (No, not a puppy, although I did ask for one.) The steamer trunk I've always wanted! Jeff found a great one at a thrift store for me and snatched it up. But there was only one problem . . . 

 (Pardon the baby in the before shot . . . he knows it's his toy box and oh, the treasures hidden inside!)

It was a wee bit ugly. I don't know what color it originally was, but Jeff thought that this brown would match our living room well (which it did), and painted it. It was a lovely thought, and really a fantastic gift that he put a lot of time into, but I never cared much for the color.

And in light of my recent epiphany that a rental home does not have to mean an undecorated, impersonal home, I decided that what our living room really needed was some color. I love color, and I've always wanted to live in a space that's bright and cheerful and full of beautiful color, but I guess I've been waiting to own a home that I could paint, because our apartments have always been brown, brown, and more brown. How boring.

No more, I say!

It was really time to bring in some color, and I sure do love yellow. Don't you think yellow is the happiest color? So I took my beloved ugly duckling trunk and gave it a facelift. What do you think of its cheerful makeover?

It was very easy to do, although time-consuming, and I am wildly impatient, so it was a bit of a struggle. As you can see, I got the trunk of my dreams--it's just covered with curvy old brass hardware, which really gives it that antique look I wanted, but was a complete nightmare to tape up before painting.

After about three coats of spray paint, I let it dry for a few hours and then started distressing it with sandpaper.

Have you always thought distressing was easy? I mean, you just kind of bang your furniture up and rub it with sandpaper, right? How hard could that be? I was really surprised at how difficult it was . . . I didn't really know where to begin (I walked in circles around my trunk for probably a good 5 minutes before finally just picking a spot entirely at random and attacking it), and I was shocked at how hard it was to make any progress. It would probably help to use a palm sander (but heaven knows I try to avoid spending much money on projects, so I did it the old-fashioned way), and I think I didn't let it dry long enough before sanding, because nothing was really happening except for the occasional little gloop of paint rolling up. I finally started making progress when I stabbed at the paint job a few times with a screwdriver, which I think gave the sandpaper something to hang on to. After a light coat of wood glaze to bring out the distressing job and give it a top coat, it was complete.

(Hideous lining inside, right? And it really smells like pee, although I febreze the heck out of it. I should probably just re-line it, but . . . meh. Who ever sees the inside? Except for, right now, all of you . . . )

It makes a great coffee table/toy box and brings such a great punch of color into the room, and as you can see, Forrest thinks it's his personal playground. I'd show you more of the living room, but it's undergoing a decor overhaul at the moment in my attempt to bring in more color, and is a bit of a disaster area right now. I'm in the midst of another furniture makeover and holy moly it is kicking my pants. Cross your fingers that I emerge victorious with a great new piece in the room. Although if you don't hear from me in a few days, you can probably assume that my project ate me alive. It's been nice knowing you.

I'll be sharing this project at some parties! Check 'em out!

Dress Up a Tabletop with Jaime of Crafty Scrappy Happy!

Do you ever stumble across a blog and become instantly hooked? And you search around for the "follow" button before you've even finished reading the first post? And every time you see a new post, you get all giddy and excited because you know it's just going to be amazing?

That's what Jaime's blog, Crafty Scrappy Happy, is for me, and I'm so happy that she was willing to share a post with you guys over here today! I've kind of felt like she's my little secret up until today, but I guess I'll share her with you. Jaime has the most beautiful cottage-y style home that looks like it came straight out of a magazine, and I love her unique take on DIY and decorating.

So here she is!

 Hi!  I am Jaime from Crafty Scrappy Happy and I am SO honored to be here today!  I just adore Rachel and her blog.

Here is a little photo of my project for today:

{A clever way to dress-up a tabletop}

{or any wood surface really}

But first I would love to introduce myself... I am Jaime from Crafty Scrappy Happy.

I am a crazy up-cycling, DIY-er, and girl on a budget.  I LOVE to drool over things that I wish I could spend a million dollars on and then make my own version (or at least attempt to)!  And I love to come up with and try new crafty "techniques" (my project today is one of them!).

If I had to pick my favorite crafty tools I would say---mod podge (I mean what can't you use it for?!?), a hand held sander (I love to distress everything) and encyclopedia paper (I am obsessed...I created a help-group for it awhile back; encyclopedia-paper-arts-and-crafts-addicts-anonymous or EPAACAA (not really) but for real; that stuff shows up in a large amount of my projects and I just adore it!). Here are a few of my past projects . . . I couldn't even tell you how thrilled  I would be if you wanted to stop by and check them out!

 Have I mentioned I love making new blog friends?!?!  You can find me at Crafty Scrappy Happy.

~So without further ado here is my project for today~

(Click read more below to see Jaime's beautiful table makeover!)