Kelly Sieckhaus

It all started here. (pic below)  

A cute chair I found at Goodwill for $15~ (hmmmm..I thought)

I could ALWAYS use another chair....lol!

Some of you may like the 70's retro design, and actually I really didn't mind the print that much..It was the SMELL however, that I minded. That musty, old, I've been sitting in someones basement for twenty years kind of smell! 

You get the picture!!

And so the restoration, re~upholstering, and painting began!

So off came the first layer, and oh joy...yet another layer of 70's LOVELY..and more smell & dust to boot!  So I keep pulling....and pulling, and pulling off material, and out staples.

Ahh..even after all this I still have HOPE!!

After a couple stabs in my fingers, yes the damn chair drew blood. I finally had it down to almost bare bones!!! Do you see the potential yet?

Here's where I paused...wiped, sprayed, and left the chair OUTDOORS (not really outdoors just the safety of my garage) I left it sitting here for at least a week to get some fresh air. It needed the FRESH AIR!!! So after multiple spritz's of Febreeze I was on my way! I started by painting the chair with a whitewashed look.  I simply sanded down the finish, (not a back breaking sand) just enough to scuff up the glossy appearance. I then brushed and wiped on and off  the chair with a watered down cream colored latex paint. (No exact measurements needed just enough water to give it a bit of translucent look.) **See below picture.

Okay now the FUN... Let the finger stabbing begin! Here are some of the products I used: long uphostery needle: this needle is NOT your friend!! Take EXTREME caution whilst poking in, and pulling out! It will puncture you!

(You have been WARNED) ; ) Okay ..trudging on...he he!

Upholstery tacks in a shiny hammered silver, and upholstery nails! Oh, and some really pretty floral fabric I found for 70%off at Hancock Fabrics. They have a great table with fabric remnants for CHEAP!!! Happy HUNTING!!!

Without getting too detailed with this part, I started by measuring the fabric, allowing myself enough to be able to wrap the chair like a present around arms, under, and over the back of the chair.  I then tucked and sewed in between with a basic stitch.  (I first used a ruler to tuck in the material  tightly wedging it between each crevice. ( RULER worked GREAT! )  Once I had good even tucks I sewed a simple stitch pushing in and out going from bottom to top, pushing all the way through with the long needle to the other side then back through the front. I did this with every row!  A wee bit tedious. l left the back unfinished to be able to pull the stitches through! This was the hardest part of the whole project, time consuming, but totally doable. I have NEVER done this before and totally winged it!

So below you see how how I pleated each piece over the top. This will all be covered and detailed with a trim of those pretty shiny tacks. (Look close, you can see the tiny black tacks I used to hold down the pieces that will be hidden.)

 All I did below was cut a piece of material a little bit bigger than would cover the back. I then ironed the material with  iron tape to hold the fold.  Positioned it just so, and started hammering in the pretty silver tacks!  This takes a couple tries to get use to, but worth the effort!!   Wella!!

So that's basically it..see not so bad!!  Now go find yourself your own DIY chair! : ) H A P P Y H U N T I N G !

My new upholstered chair in action....sitting pretty in my dining room!!

<Scroll down to see chair get a makeover!!