Chair Repair

I had never taken on an upholstery job this detailed before. However I knew that I could figure it out! So I thought I would share a few hints on how I figured it out, as well as how I kept it all on budget.

The chairs had springs underneath the seat for support and were filled with cotton and horsehair. That was not very appealing to me. I did look at webbing, but the chairs were sort of short, and so I decided to to put wood on them instead. You could use whatever you want, but particle board was the cheapest, and it is incredibly strong. A whole sheet is about $6, and these six chairs took half a sheet. Cut a template out of cardboard or posterboard, and use it for the wood, as well as the foam.

For the foam, I had an idea that cut the price for the project in half! To get enough 3 inch foam for the chairs, it would have been about $100. However, we were replacing Bre's mattress, which was a foam bunkbed mattress. When we went to throw it out, I realized it was just foam. We were replacing her mattress anyway, and a dear friend who was moving needed to get rid of one. We bought it for $25. Since Bre's original one was going to the dump, it was basically a freebie once I figured out I would use it. We used the same template for the wooden bottoms, traced the outlines and used an exacto knife to cut them out. I trimmed them with a pair of scissors, washed them in the washing machine and they were ready to go.

Remember that fabric that I got on sale? I used Scotch Guard to protect it, so it would be more family friendly. After sanding the bases well, I used $1 a can spray paint for the legs, and used $1 a can clear coat for some more protection. To protect the back, I wrapped them in Saran Wrap.

For more padding, I covered them in quilt batting, using two bags of king size sheet batting. I also covered the backs, just for a little more comfort.

So between the batting, foam, wood and sale-priced fabric, I kept this portion of our remodel well under budget. In a few days I will share more on making them look fabulous!