I really needed an extra chair in my new home office for a co-worker or a visitor.  So when I spotted one on the floor of the local thrift for $15 dollars, I quickly grabbed it with the intention of repainting and recovering the seat.  In anticipation of my friend Amanda’s Decorating Dilemma’s party at Serenity Now, yesterday I repainted the chair, and recovered the seat this morning. 

Here’s a glimpse of the Before and After:

A question for anyone who knows vintage chairs.  This label was attached to the underside of the chair.  Is this a Drexel Heritage label?  It has a registered trademark symbol.  Or is it simply another furniture company named Heritage?  Please, I must know.  Google taught me nothing.

Transforming My Thrift Store Heritage Chair:

Step One: Remove seat cushion and existing fabric.  This seat was very well constructed so I needed both a screwdriver and pliers to remove the fabric.

Step Two:  I sanded the existing paint job to remove debris, varnish, and some chipping paint. 

Step Three:  Prime baby prime.

Step Four:  You know what I’m going to say, right?  When my primer was dry, I gave the chair two coats of the great ‘Heirloom White’. 

Step Five:  I liked how the original chair had some hand painted elements highlighting the detail.  I repeated the same effect with a small artist’s paintbrush, but with less ostentation and a more modern color.  I used the same acrylic paint that I used for this mirror project. 

Step Six:  When my paint was fully dry, I applied a thin coat of Wipe On Polyurethane to protect my painted finish.

I bought one yard of a textured aqua velvet Christopher Lowell fabric at Joann’s for 40% off with a coupon.  Yippee, $15 dollars for gorgeous velvet!

Step Seven:  I made a pattern with my original fabric, and then stitched a strip of fabric to the pattern to form a new cover.

One note on sewing notched inside corners.  (Is there a technical term for that?)  On an outside corner, it’s easy to simply rotate your fabric on your sewing machine to follow the curve.  On an inside corner, you have to allow for extra fabric to pool underneath so that your fabric will corner correctly, and your cushion will sit right on your chair.  Lesson learned the hard way today.  I’m still bitter, so I don’t want to talk about it. 

Step Eight:  I used my original foam, which was in great condition and lacked any odors.  I stapled the new cushion cover to the underside of my seat base, then reattach my new seat cushion to chair.

Isn’t she a fair little chair?

And a lovely addition to my office, currently under remodel.

Have you ever known the satisfaction of transforming a chair ?  Do tell.