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29 October 2009

How to reupholster chairs in 17 easy steps, the rmless2 way [More:]
1. Find nice wooden dining table and chairs on the street that unfortunately have dingy ugly seat covers.

2. Live with them for 3 years wishing they were different.

3. Buy random fabrics and occasionally lay them out on the chairs and ask passersby if they look good.

4. Move twice, then decorate your apartment in colors that match none of your previously-bought fabrics.

5. Go to Ikea and buy better fabrics that match.

6. Put them away for at least 4 months to "age" in your closet.

7. Borrow someone's staple gun and figure out how to get it out of its packaging and put it together at about 10 pm one night.

8. Cut fabric, then realize it has some serious wrinkles from the closet aging process.

9. Iron fabric with your hair straightening iron which only does 1.5 inch strips at a time because you don't have a real iron.

10. Figure out how to take apart your chairs.
NOTE: it should be at least midnight by now.

11. Practice stapling on the pumpkin you just carved until you figure out how a staple gun works.

12. Wrap fabric around seat, making sure screw holes are left uncovered for putting-back-together purposes, and staple more or less haphazardly around the back edge, leaving corner tucking for last.

13. Try to put chair back together. Fail. Try more, fail more.

14. Give up and pet the bunny for ten minutes.

15. One more try, ok it works!

16. Wash, rinse, repeat for the rest of the chairs, which luckily go back together better than the first one.

17. Done!
NOTE: it should be well past 2 am now, and you have to be at work at 9 for a marketing meeting.

1. Hooray and bravo!!!
2. That bunny is super cute and looks like it requires lots of petting.
3. Hooray and bravo some more!!!

I could make up 14 more steps, but I'm not going to, because I have to work tomorrow, too.
posted by lilywing13 29 October | 01:32
Bravo! Worth all the effort, the result is terrific.

The 9:00 a.m. meeting won't be a problem, just show them pictures of your chairs. New upholstery envy will get you past any awkward yawn-y moments.
posted by faineant 29 October | 02:13
I'm exhausted from just reading that!
posted by gomichild 29 October | 02:30
It looks really great!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 29 October | 06:30
OK I am impressed. Also I like the fabric a lot. Nice job!
posted by Kangaroo 29 October | 07:46
Those looks awesome!
posted by stynxno 29 October | 08:48
Thanks guys!
posted by rmless2 29 October | 08:54
Very cool. (the chair, not so much the 2am bit :) )
posted by gaspode 29 October | 08:55
i lulz. this was an awesome post.
posted by eatdonuts 29 October | 09:57
I like the fabric, and thinks it looks great! Question: why the aging process?
posted by TrishaLynn 29 October | 10:26
The closet aging process is one that I've perfected over years of procrastination and laziness. See, if you leave something in the bottom of the closet for long enough, you can forget it's there and that you have tons of unfinished projects. Then, when you are finally ready to do something about it, the project is crumpled and ready for you almost as good as when you put it away.
posted by rmless2 29 October | 10:35
Great job! I really like the Deco look to the chair(s).
posted by deborah 29 October | 14:51
Great fabric! 3 years of living w/ fabric you don't love? You have a long way to go to reach my superior procrastination skills.
posted by theora55 29 October | 15:06
I do all my projects this way. They get done by a failure to avoid.
posted by Obscure Reference 29 October | 20:18
Thank you rmless2, following your steps I should be able to cut my chair-reupholstering time by half. Already did the three year wait, now I need to get the fabric.
posted by dabitch 29 October | 20:29
Yay! I have also been meaning to reupholster my dining chairs, and I also have a whole bunch of the white version of your fabric for covering a side chair but both those projects are going even more nowhere. But yours looks fantastic and gives me hope!
posted by casarkos 29 October | 21:33
dabitch and casarkos- just do it! Even if it comes out looking like crap, you'll be so blind with pride that you won't notice.
posted by rmless2 30 October | 14:01
Same stairs, same section, same leg, same ankle, same time of day, same B.AC || Thank you…

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