Works in Progress

I haven't posted anything lately because I haven't finished anything.  Well, yes I did.  I finished my taxes and my year-end financial statements, but I didn't finish anything creative (or interesting).  I have been working on some new chairs.  I really upgraded on these-- they were $15 a piece at Goodwill.

At the risk of grossing you out, you can guess what the spots on the right one are.  They're just about little dog leg height, wouldn't you say?  I didn't realize until I unloaded them out of the car that the spots were fairly recent, i.e. wet.  I took a utility knife and cut off that fabric and padding immediately and gave the wood underneath a good dose of Lysol cleaner.  I'm sure that's more information that most of you wanted to have, but I wanted to share that with you-- well, just because its gross.

A couple of people have commented earlier about worrying about bed bugs and other critters in upholstered furniture.  I'm pretty sure the smell would have killed any creatures that might have been residing in these chairs.  The people expressing concern are probably correct, but I just choose not to think about it.  Besides, you'd see things when you stripped off the fabric, right?

I did finally get these chairs fully stripped after about 18 hours.  There were staples everywhere.  I'm not kidding when I say some places had 12 staples in a one-half inch area.  That's a lot of staple pulling, I'll tell you.

I think the chairs have a nice shape and they are very fluffy and comfortable.  They just suffer from that 90's syndrome of HUGE furniture for HUGE rooms.  Add to that the overstuffing and the nice beige/beige/beige motif and you've got yourself a great everyday furniture store chair!  So, I pulled off a lot of the batting and stuffing to tone them down a bit.  I still plan to do a fan back, but to do welting between the fans instead of gathering the material.  I also think that base/leg design is pretty non-descript, so I plan to add a skirt- maybe even pleated.  And I think the separate seat cushion just adds to the overwhelming stature of the chair, so I am going to attempt to turn it into a "fixed seat" (an upholsterer told me that's what it is called).  I think it will give the chair a more rounded look because now I think the cushion looks like a slice of bread thrown on the chair.

I also broke down and ordered a pneumatic staple gun from DIYupholsterySupply.  My electric staple gun really let me down on my last chair, as I had to hammer the staples down because they wouldn't go all the way into the hard wood.  Plus, the very helpful owner of DIYUpholsterySupply told me that this staple gun would let me get close enough to staple the PlyGrip so that I wouldn't have to tack it down by hand.

And I'm waiting for some new fabric, that I understand hit port this week and the vendor is rushing me a bolt just for these chairs!  So, next week I should be knee deep in a certain fabric by a certain designer and I just hope I can make them turn out the way I see them in my  head!

I'll keep you posted because I might need some encouragement along the way!

Comments

[Miss Sassy]

Oh my. The dog stains. I would have given up my $15 on that chair. I'm easily heebed out. I can't wait to see how you finish them.

[Annette]

I can't tell you how much i am wanting to make a trip to Goodwill. I've wanted to upholster a bigger piece of furniture than a dinning room chair for a long time - and you are inspiring me to do so..... THANK YOU for the kick in the pants (now whether my husband will thank you... not so sure!)

[Ashleigh]

Those amazingly look like chairs my parents have, but I believe they still have them and they would be in Corpus if they got rid of them. Though I can't wait to show my mother what you do with them. Good work on the dog stain, I would have done the same thing!

[Jeannie Crockett]

Glad to hear that doing your taxes was NOT a creative exercise! :) I think the chairs are cool---I can't wait to see what you do with them.

[j. caroline]

Jeannie,
No creativity in the taxes that I will admit to. ;)

[Tara]

I can't wait to see what fabric you choose and how it turns out. :)

[Rhonda]

Good luck! The pneumatic staple gun sounds so great. Please do not have an accident with it.

[Caroline]

I am excited to see with of Anna Maria's fabric you use...her new line is just gorgeous!

[Missy]

I cannot wait to see how these chairs turn out! I want to try a chair someday. We're moving soon so hopefully there will be space for another piece of furniture there!
You are one brave woman to deal with that kind of stain.

[Jackie]

I can't wait to see the finished project. I really like the shape of these chairs and the fact that you got two of them. I will try not to think about dog pee pee and bugs. And please post pictures to http://www.flickr.com/groups/furniture-redo/ with before and afters.

[Janet]

These chairs have a great shape. They are going to look wonderful with the new fabric.

[Caitlyn]

I have my whole living room planned around being able to redo chairs with her new fabric-- I cannot wait for it to come in! Has there been any word on when we should expect it?

[Amie]

Any updates? I am dying to see how these chairs turn out!