Sunday, June 24, 2012

An ugly chair & a cool ottoman


Well I guess every passion starts somewhere, my latest is revamping furniture.  I had just put all of the Christmas decorations away and felt like I needed some type of change in decor.  You know how it is, the bling of all the decorations is gone and it feels great to have things back to normal, but it also feels empty.
I had just spent a bit having an old Eastlake chair completely restored, refinished and upholstered and really couldn't afford much more.  So I thought why not try a little revamping for myself.  Now I know my work will never be as good as what was done to my chair, but I thought it would be fun to try something new.  I went to a local antique and collectible shop and found these pieces.

  

















The chair is hideous, I know, but the legs reminded me of Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars and kind of made me smile.  I don't know if the ottoman is Hollywood Glam or sixties sheik but I love it (so does our cat Audrey).  I'd heard about Hobby Lobby but hadn't ever been so off I went with my sister.  Talk about two kids in the candy store!  I found some great fabric and trim and started in.  My husband pretty much took over the wood finish then I got to play with the upholstery.  Originally the chair didn't have any padding so it wasn't comfortable at all.  I crowned the seat with different layers of foam, pulled, stapled and cut the fabric to fit, and then glued on the trim.  It ended up being a little tall for someone like me to sit in so I found a small footstool at St. Vinnie's and upholstered it to match.

The ottoman was pretty straight forward.  Getting the staples out and removing the old covering was the worse part of this project.  I had never done any piping or box cushions before so it's not the best job, but Audrey and I are happy with it.  I touched up a few nicks in the paint and added a button, and that was about it.

For a little over $100 I got to spruce up my living room and try something new.

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