Simple and Sweet

So the Beast didn't turn out as planned (more on that here, here, and here) however, the good news is the Craigslist Gods have shone upon me yet again and I have another chair on the back burner ready and rearin' for a makeover.  This one should be easier but I learned, in the case of the Beast, no to speak too soon.

I picked up this chair last week for 30 bucks.  She looked so sweet and lonely that I just had to take her despite the price tag...    Just check out her curves!

And her birthmark...

I still need to research this one...

She has such beautiful lines and detail.  It was love at first sight!  I wasn't a fan of the dirty fabric nor the fact that it was a bit too traditional for my liking.  I wrestled with the idea of painting her but since the wood is in pretty good shape I chose to recover the seat and call it a day.  I have had this Ikea fabric remnant floating around for quite some time.  I ♥ this fabric.  Really Really ♥ it. Someday I will make curtains out of it but for now it will work perfectly for this chair.

My first notion was to take the bottom cover off and see if I could pop the whole seat off and go from there...no luck.  Instead I went about peeling off the decorative trim that looped around the seat and was adhered with super glue.  That was a pretty easy task once I got the corner piece loose:

Once the trim was removed I had to find a way to get the gazillion staples removed so I could pull the fabric off.  That proved to be the most difficult and time consuming part.  I couldn't work too fast as the wood easily dents so I went nice and slow loosening them and then ripping them out with pliers.  Towards the end I realized it was easier to pull off the fabric and get to the staples later.  Thank goodness the foam underneath was in great shape so I kept it as was and started finished up with the staples -here are the last few little buggers:

Once the fabric and staples were removed I took the old seat bottom and lay it on the new fabric to draw the pattern.  It is always useful to keep the old piece for your template, if you can, instead of fussing with making a new one.  Here I am drawing it out:

Once the pattern was drawn I lay the piece over my chair and got to stapling.  I used my Arrow Fastener 5650 Easy Shot Stapler and  1/4 inch 6mm staples.  I began the project yesterday with longer staples but they wouldn't go in all the way so I adjusted to the 1/4 inch.  Stapling was by far the fastest of all the steps.  I first stapled the back center and then pulled it tight to staple the front center.  From there I did each side pulling down the fabric taut and stapling as I went.

I tried to make sure and leave a lot of fabric over the sides so I had room to adjust later if needed.  It turned out to work perfectly the first time.  The corners were a little tricky as you just fold under the fabric and don't stapled but overall they came out great if I do say so myself!

Here it is after getting all the stapling done:

I haven't gotten the trim yet nor have I decided exactly what i want to use.  I did, however, cut off some of the overlying fabric (NOT ALL) to get a better feel for what she will look like when all finished.  I didn't want to go too short because the fabric will fray and I don't want it to get too close to the staples.  Once I have my trim (or nail head?) I can super glue it down and that will keep the fabric from fraying.

 Isn't she sweet?  I am still looking at the wood wondering to paint or not to paint but, to be honest, I am quite lazy these days so even if I do make the decision to paint it will be many months before I even get around to it.  For now she is a sweet looking functional piece of furniture!  No more Beast for the neighbors - Sweety Pie is in the house!

Anyone else have a productive weekend?  Feel free to share below!!

Bianca

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This Beast is a Bust...

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...

Gross!!

After I got the front off and folded her back I came across a bit of problem.  The seat bottom is stapled to the frame on top but is also stapled underneath.  Here is a close up of the dilemma:

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!

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

Dismantling the Beast

After an impromptu neighbor gathering at our house yesterday I was forced to deal with two issues I have been putting off.  The first is that we clearly need more seating in the house ASAP.  That issue led to the next...

The Beast

When I went downstairs to grab the next round of beers I came up to find one of our neighbors slumped down in the Beast (more about the Beast here).  I had no chance to warn him of the possible creatures within or the likely chance he would soon smell like old Chinese food.  I mean, who puts a chair in a house when they have no intention of having it sat in.  In hind sight perhaps the Beast should have stayed in the garage for the winter or been taken directly downstairs when I brought her in...ahhh the powers of hindsight.  So here we were in the present (now past) and poor Phil was resting his weary-after-5-hour-shoveling bones in the Beast...sans cushion!  I quickly explained the sitch and he was out of there...wise man.  So issue 2 is the Beast.  Something had to be done.  It is time to give the beast a new do.

As I start this process I realize that I have no idea what I am doing but I hope it will all come together in time.  Here are a few pics of today's dismantling.  I am going very slow and taking pictures of every angle so I know exactly how to put it all back together later.  I found the piping end spot, popped out the nail, and continued to pull it out all the way around the chair:

Simple, right?  The next step was a bit more involved and not as clean.  I started with the back, which seemed logical based on the overall construction and layering of the fabric, and started popping out the staples that held the fabric to the wood.  At the time I couldn't quite grasp how they managed to staple 3 sides down from underneath but I quickly realized one side was a tack strip they must have hammered in from on top...I still may be wrong but however it was done most likely will not be repeated when I redo the whole thing!  I am a beginner for Pete's Beast's sake!

The amount of dust coming off this thing was amazing.  I have decided that reupholstering is not for the weak stomached.  There is some funky stuff going on in here...  The fabric was one thing but the lining inside which you can see in the pic above was a bit too growdy for me.

I ripped off the bottom and the backing and decided to call it a day.  I also threw out the old fabric which won't make it easy on me when I need it for the new pattern later.  Oh well - I'll figure it out when I get to it.

I believe taking this one in tiny steps may help me accomplish the job without either tossing my cookies (literally as that is what I had for breakfast) or tossing the Beast!  For now - there is no longer the chance of mistaking the Beast for a working chair. 

Tomorrow is another day...

Bianca