How to Waterproof Your Upholstered Dining Chairs

 If you've got kids and you've got upholstery within a meter of your dining table, chances are, you've got stained upholstery. I did a ton of research about the best way to go about incorporating kid- and water-proofed dining room upholstery. Because, let's be honest, kids (try as they might) are not easy on fabric where grape juice and peanut butter oils are concerned.

 

 

I had this great coral-print fabric on-hand that I wanted to use to lighten and brighten the original dark-brick-reddish chair upholstery. But there was no way it was going to stay clean without some sort of protective barrier.

 

There are loads of ideas out there. Buying oilcloth (or leather or vinyl or other water-resistant fabric) outright would work if you didn't already have fabric, but that didn't apply to me here. I was tempted to try my hand at soaking the fabric in boiled linseed oil, but the extreme flammability and the warnings about having the fabric be forever tacky swayed me away from that.

 

 

I read that you could use iron-on vinyl, and thought this would be my answer until I realized it only came in 17" widths. My dining chair seats were wider than that. But wait! Fabric.com sold the stuff in 24" widths!!! (Fabric.com was the only place I could find that offers 24".) And it's cheap, too - like $6/yd or something. Problem solved.

 

I cut my fabric to fit the seats then followed the very easy instructions on my heat&bond iron-on vinyl. (Be careful to double- and triple-check the surface of your fabric before you stick the stuff on to make sure it's clear of lint and hair. Otherwise, you'll have lint and hair on there eternally.)

 

Ended up with a relatively flexible and waterproof piece of fabric. Yesssss.

 

 

I followed this basic tutorial on recovering the dining room seats.  

 

 

Start at the center of each edge and work toward the corners with the staples.

 

 

Do opposite edges.

 

 

So, when the two opposite sides of the seat were stapled (the front and the back, when the seat would be reinstalled onto the chair frame), I was ready to do corners. Starting in the center of one of the side edges, I stapled half and then, always pulling taut (because vinyl shows off wrinkles baaaaad), curved the staple line upward toward the corner. Like in the photo below.

 

 

Trimmed the excess.

 

 

Neatly folded and pinched the remaining corner fabric, doing my best to minimize the pleating.

 

 

Then stapled the fold down.

 

 

I did that for all four corners, and the seat cushion was ready to rock & roll.

 

 

I love how easy this is to do, how inexpensive, and how it lets you use whatever fabric you want, pretty much anywhere in your house, worry-free.

 

 

Here's the brightening effect of a fabric swap:

 

 

I'm a fan, I'm not going to lie. I love having this option for our dining room. Because I have four kids (the oldest is 9), and spills and fingerprints are part of our daily existence. It's not matte, to be honest, but it's not like covering the seat itself in separate clear vinyl. This is easily more subtle, less shiny, than that.

 

 

There are still some changes I want to make to this dining space before I call it good. But, for now, this quick waterproofing fix provides continuity and a little brightness.

 

 

Now, when I cry over spilt milk, it'll not be because the chair seats are ruined. It'll just be because I don't want to clean it up. Again.
(Just kidding. I don't actually cry over spilt milk. Usually.)


{shared: A Glimpse Inside, A Jennuine Life, DIY by Design, GingerSnap Crafts, My Girlish Whims, Sew Much Ado, Simply Designing, Sugar and Dots, The Happy Housie}

Pin It Now!

How to Sew a Professional Pillow Cover

 

I'm no seamstress, you guys. But when I bought this settee with the intent of reupholstering it, I knew that I'd have to BRING IT in the sewing department. Because it's mostly pillows, and the crispness of how they looked would make or break the end result.

 

I'm super happy with the result, and the reason why, in a nutshell, is that I took my time and paid attention to detail. Period. If you're interested, here's how I did it:

 

Here's the original pillow, one of the two back cushions on the settee:

 

 

I decided to take the pillow cover apart, piece by piece, so I could use these bits for my pattern.

Read more about this process after the jump...

Pin It Now!

The "New" Settee - a Sneak Peek

Friends, my half-hearted apologies for being M-I-A of late. This is actually the first time I've used my computer in the last five days...and I'm just popping on here to say hello, and that I have some fantastic things to share with you coming up.

 

The only problem is, it's spring around here. And I (and my children) have been definitely bitten by the sunshine bug. It's all outside, all the time for us right now.

 

But here's a sneak peek at what I finished up last week, which, if you read this homage, should come as no surprise:

 

 

To be completely honest, as much as I love the patchwork pillows, I'm not sure they're ending up being the right thing for this reupholstered settee in the living room. There's already a lot going on.

 

And also...the settee's dark wood frame actually looks much more severe in this photo than in real life. Frankly, despite whatever photographical flaws are apparent here, this is my new favorite piece of furniture of practically all-time.

 

Anyways.

I hope you're able to enjoy the sunshine wherever you are...literally and/or rhetorically, as the case may be. And don't forget to enter the giveaway, if you haven't already!

Pin It Now!

Basic Reupholstery: Seat Cushion

Reupholstering a Chair Seat: A Beginner's Guide

If you've never reupholstered or recovered any piece of furniture and, frankly, are pretty wary of doing so, I'm dedicating this post to Y.O.U. That's right. You're the Guest of Honor today, baby!

(Just don't let the title go to your head and start asking your children to take over dinner duty while you prop your feet up and sip a sparkling beverage while enjoying six hours of Pride & Prejudice. It won't work. Trust me.)

 

 

My 6-year-old daughter spied chair this at a consignment shop the other day and fell in l.o.v.e. with it. (Except "the L-word" is a bad word around here. Same as "k-i-s," says my 4-year-old. Which kind of made Valentine's Day hilarious, but that's another story for another day.) (Maybe when we're both sitting on our newly upholstered chairs I'll share it with you.) Anyway. Despite the ugly seat, the price was right, so we snatched it up. 

 

 

So. Find yourself a chair with an ugly seat cushion like I did, grab some cute home dec fabric and a staple gun, and follow along with me to upholster your very first chair. A Guest of Honor Chair, in fact! Ready? Let's go.

 

Flip the chair over and detach the seat cushion from the frame with a screwdriver. Lay the cushion upside-down on your fabric and cut, leaving 5-6 extra inches on all sides (or more, if your cushion is extra thick). This is where you'll do your stapling.

 

After making sure your fabric is wrinkle-free, you'll start attaching it to your seat. Staple the two longest (opposite) edges, one side at a time, starting from the middle and moving outward.

 

 

If there's one thing I can tell you about upholstering, it's this: no matter how simple the job, pull taut. Like, really tight. Fabric will move and stretch over a short amount of time if it's not stretched almost as tightly as you can muster during the upholstery process.

Also, you'll (almost) always staple from the center of a side outward to the edges, pulling as you go. This is so your fabric will end up smooth and straight, with no surprise bunching anywhere.

 

After both sides of your seat are taut and stapled (flip the seat over to make sure...if there's even a little bunching, remove the necessary staples and fix the problem now, because it's not going away otherwise!), it's time to think about the corners. Other than lumpiness along the upholstered surface itself, corners are huge in making an upholstery job look professional.

Don't stress, though. If you can wrap a present, you can upholster some crisp corners. Here's my new favorite way to do it:

Staple once in the center of one of the open ends of fabric.

 

 

(Woah. Weird pinkie finger sitch in the photo above.)
(And also? Apparently "taut" is the Word of the Day. 10 points to whoever ignores the embarrassing number of times the word is used here.)

 

 

You'll want to be simultaneously pulling the fabric toward you during this time and also pulling it toward the corner. Just think "In-N-Out" (in: toward you, out: toward the corner) (or In-N-Out for dinner).

 

 

 

After the corner itself is secure, staple from the center staple toward the corner. Because you've been pulling the fabric tight this whole time (right?), the fabric should lie flat and stapling should be easy.

 

 

Repeat steps for other three corners. Reattach the new-and-improved seat cushion to your chair, and stand back to admire. (And bask in the happy grin of the chair's young owner, if applicable.)

 

Congratulations! You've done it!

 

 

Layla (my daughter) called me down to her bedroom a few minutes after she lugged the freshly reupholstered thing away. She had created a "desk" setup all on her own, using random stuff from throughout the house. (I wonder where she gets that habit?) Like this table from the entryway and this rug from the nursery. Cute girl.

 

 

I'm in the process of rethinking the girls' bedroom space, so even though that table is too shallow even for a piece of paper, we're letting it all stay here for the time being. Regardless of all that, the stool's much cuter now, no?

 

 

When it's warm outside, I may spray paint the wooden armrests. But for now, hooray for a 20-minute project well done.

 

 

 {shared: A Glimpse Inside, A Jennuine Life, A Little Knick Knack, A Vision to Remember, Angels Homestead, Be Colorful, Be Different Act Normal, Beyond the Picket Fence, Chic on a Shoestring Budget, Coastal Charm, DIY by Design, DIY Dreamer, DIY Showoff, Finding Fabulous, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Fireflies & Jellybeans, GingerSnap Crafts, House of Hepworths, Housewife How-Tos, I Heart Naptime, I Should be Mopping, Lil' Luna, Miss Mustard Seed, My Girlish Whims, My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, New Nostalgia, Not Just a Housewife, Or So She Says, Parlo & Logi, Sew Much Ado, Simply Designing, Somewhat Simple, Sugar Bee, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Sweet Living, The 36th Avenue, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, Under the Table & Dreaming, What-About}

Pin It Now!

Ikea LACK Table into Padded Bench

Do you have a LACK table from Ikea? If so, may I humbly recommend giving its mass-produced-ness a quick & easy makeover? Padded & upholstered & fabulous.

 

 

And the good news is: you don't have to have reupholstery experience to do this. Seriously. Anyone can do this!

 

 

Start by removing the legs from your table.

 

 

Cut whatever you're using for your padding. I used high density foam, about 2" thick.

 

 

Layer on the floor these things in this order: batting (you want about 6" larger than your foam on all sides), foam, and upside-down table top.

 

 

Pull up and staple your batting to hold everything in place and smooth out the edges. Don't worry about getting it too taut - that's what you'll do with the fabric.Staple all the edges and the corners down, keeping things as smooth as possible.

 

 

Lay your fabric down (right side down against the floor) and then your freshly padded top (top side down) on it. Fabric should be about 6" larger on all sides as well. Begin stapling as shown below.

 

 

One of the most important things to remember about upholstery is to pull very taut. You want your fabric super smooth. In fact, while stapling mine, I knelt on top of the table (to smoosh down the padding) as I stapled...and I still pulled the fabric very taut before stapling.

 

 

After stapling the edges, fold your corners neatly so there is no bunching or gathering. Staple in place. Trim all excess fabric, because you'll be screwing the legs back in. Mine had a ton of fabric here, so I cut it as close to the staples as I dared and hoped for the best.

 

Now onto the legs. You upholstery purists are probably going to die, but I totally blatantly left visible staples on my legs. My table is going against a wall, and since the legs will all be turned so staples are facing the wall, it will not be noticeable.

 

 

If you feel uncomfortable doing it this way, by all means bust out your nailhead trim and go to town. I did add a dab of hot glue to the tops of my legs to hold the fabric in place (because the fabric at the top of the legs did not overhang. I wanted as little excess fabric there as possible.), and when I screwed the legs on I made sure all the stapled edges were facing the back.

 

 

Fabric used: Mill Creek Beau Geste 100% Cotton Upholstery Fabric in Praline from here. I love this table-turned padded bench now. Like, so so much.

 

 

p.s. I use and recommend this spray adhesive:

 

Featured!
 
{shared: A Round Tuit, Be Colorful, Boogieboard Cottage, C.R.A.F.T., Coastal Charm, Craft-O-Maniac, Crafty Texas Girls, Designed Decor, DIY by Design, DIY Dreamer, GingerSnap Crafts, I Should be Mopping the Floor, Keeping it Simple, Ladybug Blessings, Lil' Luna, MercyINK, My Girlish Whims, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, New Nostalgia, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado, Shades of Amber, Sugar Bee, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative, The Rustic Pig, The Trendy Treehouse, Today's Creative Blog, Winthrop Chronicles}

Pin It Now!

Ottoman & Decorators Tape

Happy New Year! I love a new year and a fresh start and I swear this is going to be the year I exercise religiously...starting tomorrow... :)

Ready for the super-simplest (and, frankly, so-lame-it-probably-shouldn't-be-blogged) project known to man? Here:

 

Our family room is home to this big box of a hinged-top ottoman:

 

I rescued it from craigslist last summer, and if you think it's nothing special now, believe you me, it was hideous then. I painted it out in a random light blue I had on hand and quickly (and, if I'm honest, carelessly) reupholstered the top (because not all projects are created equal for me, what can I say) with this fantastic herringbone fabric my friend found at HomeFabrics for like $1 a yard.

 

I just wanted something sturdy that the kids could jump onto or off of, and that would store unsightlies, and that our feet could lounge atop whilst we watch awesome shows like American Pickers on the history channel.

 

Check, check, and check. And a bonus point for casual use of the word "atop."

 

However, I've always felt like the blue sides were a little too, well, mass-o-solid. I had some decorators tape on hand today and thought I'd add a little detail while I watched the kids wrestle their dad.

 

So I took a blurry photo for you all...

...and taped out a frame in about 5 minutes. Kinda wild, what with the diagonals going every which way, but I actually don't hate it with the herringbone.



Then the tape started peeling off a little bit, so I mod podged it back on. Because nothing says "permanent furniture makeover" like peeling tape and mod podge.

 

And if this project isn't the catalyst to a wildly successful and home-improved new year, well, I don't know what is.

Pin It Now!

Master Bedroom Makeover: Furniture

 Master Bedroom Makeover

Day 10: Furniture (or: How to Give an Old Chair New Life)

** Note: This post is part of a 12-step series in my master bedroom makeover. Links to the other (previous) steps are listed at the end of this post.

Let's talk quick-and-easy furniture makeover, shall we?

(Prepare yourselves for the shortest post in the history of room makeover posts.)

 

Remember this black and salmon chair?

 



I spray painted the frame a softer color (Sea Foam, I think) and recovered the seat with a lovely and hardy ikat. Here's what it looks like now:

 

I know it's kind of, ah, 80s, but I adore the curves on the back.

 

It wasn't terrible before. But it works so much better in the space now.

 

Are you an ikat person, or no? And have you ever spent 20 minutes changing something and it's so easy and fast that you're like, "why didn't I do this waaaaay long ago?" Yeah. That's me.

 

Next is Day 11: Pillows & Bedding. This might just be my favorite transformation yet...and that's saying something. Excited to show you!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Check out previous steps during the 12 Days of Master Bedroom Makeover:

Day 1: Inspiration Board

Day 2: Paint Walls
Day 3: Floor
Day 4: Headboard
Day 5: Furniture Arrangement
Day 6: Window Coverings
Day 7: Vanity
Day 8: Wall Art
Day 9: Lighting

{shared Miss Mustard Seed}

Pin It Now!