Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Reupholstering Chairs to be Kid Friendly

See stained chair?
I've hated the looks of my chairs for soooo long.  I've had them about 4 1/2 years.  Whatever you do, don't buy furniture from MOR, they don't have good quality.  Well, we paid a lot of money for them so it's here to stay for a bit longer.  When I first bought the chairs the seat covers were an almost white micro fiber.  Right away I knew I needed to cover them with a clear plastic to keep them looking that pretty.  My husband said it was okay because the store people said they are easy to clean.  Yeahhhh, if you have NO KIDS maybe.  So of course right away it started getting really stained and becoming a huge embarrassment.

The piles and piles of fabric
Yesterday I went to SAS to pick out some new material for the chairs. I had an idea of the type of fabric I wanted.  Basically, anything I can take a wet cloth to and wipe down fast.  This store is cheaper but extremely unorganized.  They basically just throw everything in these huge piles and you just have to hope you find what you need.  Nothing is in order at all so I wandered around for a long time.  Just when I was about to give up I found the perfect material.  Black vinyl for $4.99 a yard.  Sounded good to me and I was crunched for time!

So then I went home and took apart all the chairs.  The kids couldn't figure out why in the world I'd want to take the cushions off. I jokingly told them it's because we didn't need them.  They just got quiet for a minute and then said, "But mommmm.....!"  I went to Home Depot and asked guy for help in finding the right staples for the staple gun.  We talked a bit and then he wouldn't leave after I got what I wanted.  I told him I needed to call my mom and he kept standing there.  So then I just stared at him waiting for him to leave.  I said, "Thank youuuuu" in hopes he'd get the hint I'm done. So he said, "Do you want to talk to your mom in private or something?"  I told him, "Okay thanks, but I got the idea of what I need."  He kept standing around and flirting and I was getting frustrated.  Okay dude.  He was soooo flirty it was getting on my nerves.  Then when I was leaving he followed me to talk to me some more.  Ugh.  Was happy to get out of there.

I headed to my moms house (which was also a great excuse to visit) and asked if she could help me.  My mom is an expert on this stuff because she'd done it so many times.   After looking at pictures online and chatting we got down to business. She made a pattern for me and I started cutting.

While I was cutting my mom was doing the stapling of the fabric onto the chairs.  It's amazing my dad could sleep through all that.  I kept yawning the whole time while working and mentioning how late it felt.  I looked up at the clock and it was only 8pm.  What the heck?  What a wimp I've become!  Haha.

Finally, I got home and put the chairs together.  The newly reupholstered chairs look amazing!  Now, all I have to do is wipe down the chairs with a wet cloth after a meal.  No more scrubbing and scrubbing.  The stains would never come out.  Don't believe people when they say white microfiber cloth is safe from kids.  Ha!

4 comments:

Motherhen said...

Gorgeous! My chairs are antiques, originally upholstered in black leather! I did them in a lighter fabric for our dark victorian house, but I may be headed back in the dark leather direction again.

Lindy in the Kitchen said...

They look great! We are going to be moving next month and I'll be needing to do that for my dining room chairs. Glad to see it can be done and looks fabulous too!

Mama Duck said...

fabulous job you clever thing! I was always too scared to do mine!

Virginia Revoir said...

Thank you, guys! Mama Duck, it was my first time so I got help from my mom. :)