Weekend Project = Chair #1

After

Before

Finally got around to refurbishing my first chair ever...and I tell you it feels pretty good! In one weekend we (being myself and Eric, my oh-so-amazing boyfriend) had to make about 8 trips to various hardware and fabric stores before we finally had everything necessary to paint and reupholster this vintage chair (see before photo below). Being a man's man, I'm sure Eric never imagined himself in Joanne's fabric store searching for trim all weekend...but he was a trooper and I made sure we were stocked up on cold beer and sandwiches from Bay Cities to keep everyone happy. 

This being amateur hour and all, the following list is a sampling of lessons learned:

1. We had to try various foam/batting thicknesses to get the right amount of cushion for the seat. After playing around with various options we managed to pull some batting apart to get what we needed to layer with the foam.

2. It took about 3 more coats of paint than anticipated to cover the previous dark wood stain.

3. We learned to ALWAYS bring the fabric with you everywhere when buying supplies (which is obvious, but if you know me you know I'm bound to forget the most important thing when I leave the house). We guessed on a trim color without the fabric on the first try...as anticipted, it didn't match so we had to return it. 

4. When buying supplies, check your supplies before check out. We were all geared up to assemble the seat and realized our newly purchased staple gun was missing an important piece. Back to the hardware store we went, and then we were finally set.

It was a true learning experience and all-in-all a great way to spend a weekend (for me at least!). I anticipate the next chair will take half the time without the amateur mistakes. Once I have it down I want to try a more difficult upholstery project. I'm so glad to have taken the first step :)