A lot of my DIY’s start with a problem, usually one that isn’t easily or cheaply solved by conventional shopping. Either that or the options that are available have short shelf-lives or are worse for the environment than whatever I can piece together. This time the problem was with chairs. I have a table – probably from the 50’s – that I got a long-time ago second hand. I love it because it has a built in leaf. The leaf folds into the table top so that I don’t have to find a place to store it. This table is also solid wood and the legs screw off making it easy to move and store. As a bi-cultural family we are always prepared to pack up and move – so I think about things like how small furniture can become. Along those lines, and because I have a small space kitchen, I wanted chairs that stack.

I bought a set of white plastic chairs from Ikea four years ago which worked OK but they were looking a bit stained and had always been too wide for the space under the table. Stacking dining room chairs are either expensive or hard to find. Stacking banquet chairs are common and easy to source. You can even get them for free if you are patient, as they become worn venues are often happy to give them away. I found these second hand. I wanted ones that weren’t chrome – chrome doesn’t really fit in my space and looks more industrial than I wanted – but I also didn’t want black. When I found ones with a brown frame I jumped. I have seen tutorials where people strip and paint chairs a custom color but, in my experience, spray paint has a pretty short life-span – getting chipped and scratched easily. The origional paint job is cooked right on the metal and so will last longer.

Here they were – they fit really well and have a long lasting, neutral frame, but definitely not cute and too dark for the rest of the aesthetic in the room. I knew I was going to reupholster them when I bought them. However, if I was going to put in all that work I wanted to make sure that the redone chairs didn’t cost just as much as getting them new. My daughter and I went to the fabric store and dug in the ends and discounted upholstery fabric. Truth be told I basically never pay full price for fabric. She and I argued through colors, me wanting something bright and she wanting something neutral, we found some great $6 a meter fabric somewhere in the middle. Total chair cost $50, fabric $40. Six chairs for $90, not bad.

There are a ton of reupholstering videos out there including my own couch remodel – you don’t need me to teach you how to do this. But I do have a few quick tips.

Get a staple puller – a cheap tool which will definitely save you from getting stabbed. Trust me, I have scars.
In that same vane, use gloves, also helps with not getting stabbed.
Don’t worry about taking out all the staples. Sometimes you have to leave them and just tear the fabric off. The origional upholsterers had a pneumatic stapler, you don’t.

It comes down to taking your time, keeping track of where everything goes as you take it apart and then using the old fabric to make a pattern for the new. Scissors, staples, and sweat and you can take on just about any project.

And here they are, before and after. Defiantly more cute. The brown vinyl that came off them was pretty flimsy and plasticky and would have been really uncomfortable in the hot summer so a big improvement there as well.

Next project – strip the table down to the wood. Stay tuned.

…try new things, fix stuff, get your hands dirty, read about everything and live life the most that you possibly can while still being as kind as possible – to people and to the world around you.