Chair Lift

Author:  Spring

I did a face lift on our chairs, so, I guess that makes it a chair lift. Right?

Here’s the back story.  When we bought our long, lean, and sleek dining room table, we wanted chairs that would work well with it.  We didn’t want anything with swirls and twists, bent wood, engraving, or too much padding.  We wanted the chairs to be understated, just like the table, so we chose chairs with same light wood and a linear design.  They worked with the table, were comfortable to sit in and were neutral – just what we wanted.  However, they didn’t have much personality.    They were kind of like wall flowers.  They showed up for the dance but were wearing their plain, drab clothes.

I knew this was an easy problem to fix.  All I needed was a trip to the fabric store, a pair of scissors, and a screw driver.

This is the sad, drab chair before its face lift, I mean chair lift.

I knew this apple green and white fabric would give the chairs some life.

The fabric was not only the perfect color and print, but it was also on sale.  I bought one and one-fourth yards for around $8.00

This shows the chair with the pad removed.

Here it is completely bare and naked waiting for its new fabric.

The first thing I had to do was disassemble each chair.  I didn’t even remove the existing fabric because it would add a little bit of padding.  I simply turned the pad upside down and traced a template which I used to cut out each seat cover.

It’s important to make the cuts in a way that utilizes all of the fabric if you are working with a limited amount.

A view of the first chair, half way finished.

Here it is.  Don’t you think it is colorful and fresh looking?

What a difference!

Within minutes, the first chair was complete.  The entire project took a little more than an hour.  Did you notice something missing in the photos above?  That’s right.  I didn’t even use a staple gun.  I simply used the existing screws to hold the new fabric on the chair.  If I decide to switch to a different fabric in the future, I won’t need to remove any staples.  All I will have to do is undo the screws, take out the old fabric, and add the new fabric.

Not only does the new fabric brighten up the entire dining room, but it is such an easy color to work with seasonally.  It will work with the pastels of spring,  fall colors, and holiday colors.  And when I don’t have anything special for a center piece, I can buy some Granny Smith apples that will match it perfectly.

Our dining room is coming together, and we couldn’t be more pleased.  Come back soon because my husband is going to be a guest blogger to write about a project we did last week-end.

Cheers!

Linking to Met Monday at www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com