#tbt … to my first DIY project!

I love looking back at DIY projects I have done, it shows me how far I’ve come and motivates me to keep going!
This was my very first real DIY project that I had gathered up the courage to do.  This chair belonged to my husband’s grandmother and was passed down to him.  However, as you can see, it was not all that appealing.  It sat in the corner of a storage room of our house for over a year before I asked if I could give it a makeover, and since I promised that we would be able to use it after I was done he agreed.
Did I know how do to it?  No.  Not a clue.

I took it out to our garage and started to deconstruct the chair.  I pulled each staple out of the fabric, being careful not to rip the fabric as I had planned on using it as a pattern.
Hey!  That was easier than I thought… but now I have a naked chair and no clue how to recover it.
I had already purchased the fabric I wanted to use and had my Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint ready to go.

 

After I put a few coats of milk paint on I let the chair dry and lightly distressed the paint to give it a rustic feel.  The natural wood comes through beautifully.

 

 

after

Now, for the scary fun part.
Again, let me remind you this is a chair that belonged to the family for years… and I have never reupholstered anything in my life.  Cool.  No sweat.  Yeah right!
So, since I took the fabric off carefully I did have a really good pattern to use.  I laid the old fabric on top of my new white and chevron fabric and traced it out.  Easy!
Then I laid the new fabric over the chair… now I’m starting to get excited.
I begin stapling the fabric to the chair, pulling it tight, and it looks like I know what I’m doing!  Woohoo!  Keep going!
THEN… I look at it… and the fabric is crooked.  Let me suggest to all of you if you are doing your first ever reupholstering job to not use a fabric that has a clean pattern.  Use a pattern that is forgiving if it’s not perfectly straight.
Okay, so I take the fabric off and start over.  Frustrated yet determined that I will not ruin this chair, after-all I promised it would be ‘so much better!’ once I was done.

After a lot of pulling and stapling… we have a new chair again.

before

after

after

Wow!  A brand new chair that I love and I did it all myself (go me!).

That, my friends, was the beginning of my DIY addiction.

Pamela