DIY: Reupholstered Chair

Oh my! I have not blogged in close to two months. Life has flown by over these last two months even more so than the last year. we have been busy busy busy.... with work, study and the baby.  All of this while trying to maintain my sanity from being at home and studying for the MCAT. As you know, we have been working on many things around this apartment. Little upgrades here and there. We have overhauled this guest bedroom of ours by adding what I feel is a real dose of design. No wall treatments but lots of pattern and lots of glamour. It's not completely finished, one more day! Working on the window treatment still. I'll give you a little hint. it starts with a "v".
 As for today's post, I am showing you the reupholstered free Kijiji chair that now resides in a sweet little vignette in the guest bedroom. I just loved the sleek lines so I sent an email off to the previous owner and set up a time to pick it up. The oak stain and ratty blue fabric was disgusting but the chair harboured so much potential.

We came home and excitedly began to rip it apart. From my past research into upholstery, I recalled  that you must remove the upholstery tacks first. Then move along removing pieces one by one until the chair is down to its bare bones. So that's just what I did. I also noted down each piece as it came off with a number. Reupholstery works backwards. 

The next step was restaining the entire chair. My hubbie sanded and sanded the chair until all the previous glaze and stain was nowhere in sight. Then I stained it with Miniwax Dark Walnut and another layer of Miniwax  Antique Black + polyurethane to get the dark finish. We loved the final look of the wood. The previous oak stain was a disaster. So glad this chair has been given a new look.

Just an aside, I did not sand in between coats of stain. I felt that this allowed me to spread the stain out really well and create a very glossy and smooth finish. Although I now know that this method does not work on all pieces of furniture.

Moving on, we bought this kiwi green fabric (unknown fibres). We used the old numbered pieces as templates but added an inch to two inches to each side of the seat cushion as we added a new higher density foam underneath. As for the back cushion, we replaced the batting and removed the flat cushion all together.Putting it back together was not as easy as I first thought. We had to make a few extra cuts and change the method for reupholstery to make sure that everything was taught and sleek. As a result of these changes, the back has a few staples that are quite obvious. I will have to cover those staples piping in the future. For now, we are relishing in the fact that we DIYed a chair from drab to fab. In the future, we will definitely videotape when we are taking the upholstery apart to make the reupholsteryprocess seamless.

Since I'm still a bit hesitant with the staple gun, I was mostly directing or sitting around for this part while my husband did the brunt of the work with the staple gun. Finally, after about an hour of stapling, tugging and pulling, it was complete. This was our first venture into the world of upholstery and I can tell you I'm in love. Its amazing what a little elbow grease and fabric can do to a chair. 
And drumroll please...here it is:

Why did I choose this fabric? You'll find out in the next few days.  Now I ask you, what do you think
 What would you have done differently, different colours, stain, look
Have you recovered anything lately
Happy Stapling!
Ameera