My $10 Chair Makeover Is Complete!

During the morning of Sunday, May 22nd I completed my $10 chair makeover, isn't is fabulous?!?  Who knew only three hours later our home and life as we knew it would be changed by an F2 tornado with 150mph winds.  Life can change in an instant, but on the bright side the chair survived the tornado (ha!).

I ended up going with a linen look instead of dark gray.  I know most of you voted for gray, I hope you aren't disappointed!  I love the bright white and linen contrast, crisp and clean.  The nail head trim pops a bit more too.

Here is a look back at the chair when I picked it up from Bauer Brother's Architectural Salvage for $10.

I removed all of the icky upholstery...

 Then sanded it and painted it white.

 Next was the hard part.  I had to make a new cushion and seat back.  I started by taking measurements of the seat.

 Here is a rough sketch of the measurements I took.

 Since the seat was not a perfect square. I used some old Christmas wrapping paper to make a template from the measurements I took. I know it is a bit weird, but old wrapping paper makes for a great no cost template.

Here was the first one, didn't fit quite right.

I ended up making a couple more until it fit perfectly.  I picked up a 0.75" thick piece of plywood from Home Depot for about $6 to use as the base for the seat cushion.  Then Alex traced around the paper template onto the plywood as guidelines for cutting.

 Alex got out his jigsaw and cut just inside of the guidelines he traced for the seat.

 Next, I needed to cut out the same shape on a piece of foam I got from Joanne's for $7 (at 40% off).  I traced the seat shape onto the foam and then cut out with scissors.

Here is a look once the foam was cut into shape for the seat.

 Then I placed the seat upside down and cut the fabric roughly 6" wider all around.

 Then it was time for stapling!  The tighter and more consistently tight you pull the fabric around the smoother the foam will look.

 Once the seat cushion was done I started adding nail head trim to parts of the chair where the upholstery was tucked in to cover the gaps.

It is pretty easy, just place and hammer in.

I used about 120 pieces on nail head on the chair.  My fingers hurt like crazy after!

After that it was time to come up with something for the seat back.

It is a little hard to explain, but I measured the opening in the back and cut out a piece of fabric shaped to fit and hemmed all the edges with my sewing machine.  Here is the fabric, looks a little wonky since it wasn't ironed yet.

Then I stapled one end on what will be the inside of the chair back.

It is a bit hard to explain, but after I stapled the part above I wrapped the fabric over the top, then tucked the other end under the bottom wood beam and stapled it into place.

Done! 
I put two little nail heads on the top to hold the fabric seat back in place.

Gorgeous right?!?

I love how the nail head adds a bit of sophistication and elegance to the chair.

The foam is still a bit lumpy towards the front, I might have to fiddle with fabric stapling one more time.  But for now, I love this little chair makeover and it looks so cute in our Sunroom.

Ahhh, feels good to blog about something 'normal' after tornado madness!!!  Do you like how the chair turned out?

See you tomorrow Tuesday for a mega 'idea' inspired post (sorry meant to get it up Monday, but still too busy with yard work).. know what it is???