Dining Redux: Part II
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Before & After
Now that we’ve finished the painting of the dining room table and chairs we can move on to the fun stuff. Picking out fabric for the cushions. I found a great little local fabric store here, Fabric Planet, that definitely lived up to their name. I found the perfect fabric for our chairs. Light grey with a subtle pattern on it (dare I say it almost looks like coral?). At $10 a yard I was sold (mostly because I only needed a yard).
So remember what we had before?
I just flipped over each cushion and took out the staples holding the old, grody fabric onto the chair cushion. Easy-peasy.
I really thought I was going to have to replace the foam under the fabric since there were so many stains on the fabric. But I lucked out, they each looked perfect. I was also hesitant to replace the foam since it’s the spray on kind and it would be hard to replace and make it look smooth.
So I used one of the old chair covers as a pattern and cut out my new fabric.
Ok, so this is where it gets a little unconventional. Usually, to put the new fabric on the chair you use staples. Well, my staples would not go into the wood. I had this same problem with the chairs I recovered. I solved it by using furniture tacks. Unfortunately, those are currently residing in our storage unit. So, I improvised. I hot glued the fabric to the cushion.
I can hear the screams of professional upholsterers everywhere. I am not recommending this as a go-to method. If you have super nice fabric I would definitely not recommend it. If you used tacks/staples and mess up you can just pull them out. With glue you are literally stuck. Ha! But seriously. It worked out fine for me but I like to live on the edge. SO for all of you who want to glue your cushions here’s how it’s done.
1- Make sure your fabric is how you want it on the front (if you have a pattern or stripes-double/triple check!). Glue the top corners down first. Then wrap the corner edges over and glue/staple down. It’s like wrapping a gift.
2- Hot glue the edge between the two corners you just glued down.
3- Glue/staple the bottom two corners. Make sure to pull your fabric tight. Then glue the edges between those two corners.
4- Finish gluing the final two edges and enjoy your handy work.
Lest we forget where we came from…
Ta-da! We’re now confident that our guest can rest their hineys on our newly improved cushions and not worry about picking up some disease.
What say you? Love the white and grey combo? Any luck re-painting a thrift store find? Do tell!
Tags: dining room project, painting, recovering chairs
June 16th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
What a great update. the chairs look great :0)
June 17th, 2010 at 9:36 am
wow! you did an amazing job making over the set. i love your color and fabric choice. super cool!
i really enjoyed reading about the process. making adjustments and improvising is what makes a great DIY story. rock on!
xo
elyse
June 17th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
found you on shabby chic cottage’s transformation thursday link…i just refreshed a kitchen table, too! you did a great job! love how fresh and clean white furniture looks.
http://alittlepeaceofhome.blogspot.com/2010/06/lets-stripthe-varnish-off-antique-table.html
June 25th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
What a great update! I love that fabric!
Kacey (via Life in the Fun Lane)
June 26th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I LOVE the fabric!! You did a great job with the upholstery as well, it came out beautifully. The whole set looks brand new now!!!
Thanks so much for sharing in our first Fresh Coat Friday!! I hope you share more of you upcoming projects~
Holly
January 5th, 2011 at 5:45 am
Great job! What a difference a little fabric and paint make.
January 5th, 2011 at 9:37 am
I am visiting from the CSI. I am enteries number 86, 87, 88 and 89.
What a GREAT transformation.
Cheri from http://www.itssoverycheri.com and http://www.thediyclub.com
January 14th, 2011 at 6:56 am
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