A chair, before and after

Say hello to my new chair. This guy has been sitting in the corner, all done except for those armrests, for several weeks. That's because someone got scissors-happy when cutting out the seat cushions and forgot to leave enough fabric for the arms. And someone's husband graciously stopped at IKEA last night and purchased the required quarter yard of SaraLisa. What a guy.

Above is the original chair I bought at Jubilee Furniture. I have a thing for chrome these days. Ooo, shiny! But sad fabric. This chair sort of reminds me of a walker, but I'm okay with that. When I'm 80, I'll have coordinating furniture.

This chair was way easier than the Steelcase business. Essentially two pillowcases for the seat and the back were stapled shut at the bottom.

I added more batting to plump it up a little and cover the disintegrating foam, then used the old covers as a template for cutting the new fabric. I sewed up the new pillowcases, stuffed the chair pieces into them, and stapled them shut again. Of course that covered up the old screw holes in the wood frame, so I had to poke all along the sides of the chair with a needle* to find them again. Then I cut little slits in the fabric with an Xacto knife and screwed the seat and back to the frame.

The arms were the easiest—I detached the old pieces, sprayed some adhesive* to the new fabric, and wrapped it around the old armrests. Snapped them back on, replaced the screws, and we're in business.

*I don't know anything about professional upholstery, so you should probably assume my methods are totally weird. But I like this chair.

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