I don't know about you but I love a change of the seasons. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. Not the freezing cold fall, but the cool breeze with lots of sunshine. (so like the beginning of the fall) The leaves changing in color and everything just seems new. I love fall as much as I love a good and simple transformation of an older piece of furniture. It's truly the small things that you can change to make it look elevated and refreshing.
This chair was actually made in Denmark and upon assessing it, I realized that it will be a great piece to refurbish. So here are a few steps that I took to get it out of it's old season into a new season. (I managed to take a before pic before diving into this project) :)
Step 1: Assessing a project is always important. You have to see what you'll have to do in order to really make it look new. (Not a half job) This step is important because this will be the time that you will decide what supplies you may need to accomplish this task. So upon assessing this chair I knew that I will need to take it apart, recover the cushions, and sand down the frame and then either paint it or stain it.
Step 2: This is the step where you will take off the cushions. With this chair I had to use a knife to pop off the little wooden caps in order to access the screws. I damaged some of them in the process so I will have to go to the store and pick out some more. (Hardware section of Home Depot or Lowe's)
Step 3: These were simpler cushions, so it literally took me 30 minutes to recover both the seat and the back cushion of course with the help of my helpers. LOL If the chair was professionally covered, I usually just follow in the same pattern. This really helps not to have to think about how to re-cover a cushion. I personally like to buy thicker and more of a heavy duty fabric when it comes to re-covering a seat because I want it to be practical as well. I actually had this fabric leftover from the last time I shopped at Hobby Lobby. (By the way if the fabric is not on sale at the time that you buy it, be sure to pull up the online coupon which is found on their website.) YOU WELCOME:) I used a staple gun and an adhesive spray to recover the cushions. The adhesive spray helps the fabric not to slide and also maintains that slight con caved look that these chair cushions had.
Step 4: While working with wood you always want to be in a well ventilated area especially when you're sanding. I used my Craftsman electric sander to sand both of these wood pieces down making sure that I was only de-glossing them. (When using an electric sander, you have to be very cautious with the rounded areas because you can sand down too much in one are and not enough in the other and make it look not as smooth as before.) I would've probably used a sanding sponge to get the rounded areas just so that it would've been a smoother surface once I got done, but I worked with my electric sander and just had a light hand.
Step 5: One of the reasons I like to watch shows that give you tips and tricks on how to work with certain material is because it's something that I like to do myself and it helps me pick up new hacks along the way like this one. I didn't know that you can use pure alcohol to restore the wood to its original color after sanding it down. I was excited about this because I usually turn to paint. I was excited for a new challenge and honestly it was a lot cleaner and easier than painting. Once I rubbed the wooden pieces with the alcohol, I used some leftover stain that had the same hue as this chair. (Cedar Like) So instead of painting it, I stained it using a rag and just rubbed some of that stain in.
Step 6: The final step of this makeover was a clear coat. I used a shellac spray to seal the stain and to give the chair a nice glossy finish. It's so close to what it looked like before, that it just looks like I re-covered the cushions and that was it. I am quite pleased that I was able to save the same look of this chair's original wood work.
PS The only thing I am missing are the caps that go inside the holes to hide the nails. (Which I will be getting this week)
So before you had a tired looking chair that just needed some TLC and now it looks brand new.
What do you guys think? :)
I can truly say that it's the little things that make a big difference in the overall look of a piece. It doesn't have to be expensive but you can make it look quality and luxury on a budget.
Comment below and let me know if you learned something new today while reading through this DIY project.
Create Coleture, Be YOU
Viktoriya Cole