Turns out being squeamish about the Beasts insides yesterday was due to a touch of the flu and not necessarily the upholstering process. That being said, her insides would make anyone sick - flu or no flu. Thanks to Carrie from Dittle Dattle and her "fooled ya" comment on yesterdays post I felt the need to continue dismantling the Beast. Today I set out to conquer her. I figured the least I could do was take her ugly worn sheath off and let her sit naked for awhile until I find the time (and space) to sand and paint the frame. I am thinking something soft and neutral but haven't decided between a white/beige or a bluish/gray...hmmm...
I took lots of pictures of this process as she is a bit more complicated than I thought at first site...aren't we all, ladies? I left you yesterday with the back panel torn off as well as the underside which left her looking like this:
And here is the start of a new day - Undressing her sides:
There are A LOT of staples and, naturally, I do not have a tool to remove these. I am using my painters thingy to get in there and try to wiggle some out but overall it is much faster and easier to just slowly rip the fabric out. I wanted to make sure I didn't ruin the pattern as I would be needing this later so nice and slow I went...Nice and slow...Nice and slow... It is very hard for me to do anything slow so I had to keep repeating it. Repeat on the other side and move on to the front!
As I said in yesterdays post (check it out here) reupholstering is not for the weak. As you can see from a couple of the pics I am bleeding from places those nasty staples bit me. Not to mention the disgusting fibrous batting they have stuffed all up inside this thing...
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| Gross!! |
I decided to just start pulling it up until I got stuck again. Here is the crossroads - the part where the fabric is stapled from underneath inside the chair...
And here is the underneath of the chair - Burlap and all:
Again - I do not have proper tools to take these springs off. If anyone has every broke a spring on a chair, couch, sofabed - whatever - you know they are near impossible to stretch enough to get it back on. In this case, there is no way I can stretch it enough to get them off. This is serious stuff, people! Not for your average first time DIY upholsterer such as myself. I said I set out to conquer her but I did not say I actually did it! The Beast has been temporarily put on hold until I can figure out the next step, go back to the drawing board, and figure it out. Google, DIY blogs, and an actual professional upholsterer if I must.
Here is how she looks now - a bit defeated but not nearly as defeated as I feel!
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| Don't worry, Beast - you too will have your day to shine! |
Oh - and while I was searching the Beasts crevices for an answer to this madness I came across this:
This baby was swallowed by the beast around 10 years ago - She just now coughed it up!! The last time stamps were sold at 34¢was July of 2001! I was sooooo hoping to find a treasure within - instead all I got was trash. Better luck next time!
Anyone else got a "Beast" of a project? Got a hint for me on the rest of this one? Feel free to drop me a comment or email!
Bianca
