My DIY Chair Renovation!

Last week I told you guys about my thrift store find here...a basic wooden chair I purchased for only $7.95!

Well I finished it up this past weekend and I LOVE the way it came out!  The first thing I had to decide on is what color I wanted to paint the chair and what fabric I wanted to use to cover the seat.  Awhile ago I fell in love with an accent chair at the furniture store that I thought would go perfect in our bedroom. See below:

Too cute right?  However, the chair is $349!!  So I decided to get a throw pillow in that print for the bed, let a little time pass, and then try to convince the hubby to agree to letting me get a chair that I wanted mainly for aesthetics, one we really didn't "need" (hard sell...lol)

Honestly, I didn't really want us to spend that much on one chair either so I decided to let that be my inspiration chair for this project.  Since I couldn't find the exact fabric anywhere, I purchased another throw pillow ($19.99)  and cut it open to use to cover my seat cushion.  Here is the pillow before I cut it open:

I used an Exacto knife (or you can use a seam ripper) and cut the seams to take the pillow apart:

I cut the seams around the entire pillow. Now the fabric looks like this:

I have two pieces of fabric--the front and back of the pillow.  But I had a problem. One of the pieces alone didn't cover the entire seat cushion.  So I cut strips from the other piece of fabric to add to the other.  Then I sewed those pieces to three sides of the fabric. Luckily I didn't need to add too much.

After sewing them on, its time to cover my seat cushion.  First, I removed the seat cushion from the chair frame.  This is really easy...flip the chair over and remove screws.  Remember, before buying a chair to "re-do" , check to make sure it will be easy to remove cushion and easy to reattach.  Once the cushion is out,  I got my spray glue out and sprayed it on the cushion. You can also add extra padding as well. I was going to do that but forget to get the materials from the store...lol.  Anywho, after I spray glued cushion, I attached fabric...making sure I left fabric hanging off edges of each side. Next I folded over the edges and glued them down on back side...see below:

Then I went around the edges and stapled fabric down.  All done with that piece!

For the chair's frame, I decided to go with black.  Make sure to sand down your furniture before painting old furniture....then wipe it off with a little soap and water to make sure all the particles are gone.  Let it dry and now you are ready to paint! I like immediate results so I opted to use spray paint.  I went with Rust Oleum Lacquer spray paint from Home Depot ...$4.98.  I ended up using the whole bottle!

Once the paint has thoroughly dried, it was time to pop my newly covered seat cushion back in! I also decided to cover the arms of the chair a little too. I didn't take any pics of that but it was easy... just used some leftover fabric and a glue gun (a crafter's best friend...lol). Check out the finished product!!  Not bad for a total of  $33.00 spent... I'd say it gives my inspiration chair a run for its money!! :)

 What do you think?