i have a joke, mostly in my head, that goes something like this…
“in the beginning when we first bought this table set, i used cushions on the seats to protect them from stains. now, i use cushions on the seats to protects us from the stains that are on the chairs.”
sad and true, and really embarrassing if you must know. but to make up for the lack of photographic (and emphasis on graphic for these photos below) evidence in my previous post, i’ll share with you the state of our dining chairs after 10 years of use…
“ew” does not suffice. those water stains are my sad attempts at trying to wash off other stains, which only served to spread them out further. foiled again, darn you chromatography!
{ does having 3 kids excuse the state of these chairs? no? oh. }
i followed the same steps as in my marimekko chair project, first removing the base from the frame. it only involved unscrewing 3 screws from the bottom…
{ please excuse my mouse slippers. }
i had a bolt of upholstery fabric just lying around. no really, you should see my fabric stash. it’s like an archaeological dig, each layer of fabric in the pile tells a story about an era in my life. anyway, this bolt of fabric was from my bag making days and i had more than enough left over for covering all the chairs.
i lay the base of the chair onto the fabric and cut around, leaving plenty of extra fabric to fold underneath. trust me, cut it larger than you think you’ll need and it may be just enough. the tricky part is always the corners. and normally, tiny pleats like these…
…are the way to go. the smallest pleats possible as you make your way around the corner, stapled down securely. but i had a hard time with it because the fabric was rather bulky with no stretch or give at all. i tried folding the fabric on some of the chairs, much like you would fold wrapping paper over a box…
in the end, i’m not sure which method i preferred but they all turned out fine (all five of them; one chair from the set of six had a broken leg and we had to put it down).
not perfect, but a huge improvement. and most importantly, they are no longer a health hazard.
as for the littlest’s chair? well, i did something i never thought i would…
what? i really didn’t want to meal-plan around the new seats. we had spaghetti with sauce the next night. no problem. my eye didn’t twitch once throughout the whole meal. come to think of it, that’s the first time that’s happened in um, 10 years?
Okay–now this is sewing that I can handle! I love refurbing furniture. Don’t stress too much about the pre-condition of the chairs. Mine look the same way and I only had one kid. Well, she’s actually a teenager… who’s been away at college for two years. Hmm. I think I’ll stop talking now and go cover my own chairs.
you’re right, it is pretty rewarding and easy. let me know if you cover yours!
Ours were super- gross too, before we recovered our chairs! Yours came out very nice…and plastic is definitely ok under a little’s seat! :) Yay for peace of mind!
i’m not sure what i was thinking then. should’ve bought all wood chairs. ah well… i was a new mom ;)
They look good and the plastic will help. You could also Scotchgard the fabric to keep them looking good.
that’s true. i’m just a bit leery of the chemicals. my friend with 4 kids has a living room with all white furniture and rugs. i asked her how she manages, and she said “i scotchguard everything!”
Cute! My dining chairs are purposely un-cushioned because stains on fabric make me twitch. And I am SO impressed your littlest will still use a booster! I finally had to take P’s off so he would quit stealing my chair. :p
see, i should have just bought all-wood chairs to begin with.
and sweet p the chair thief :P
very nice. double eek on the plastic. i watched a programme the other day and they still had plastic on their settee but i think in the circumstances it’s acceptable :D
like abby said below, that might warrant an intervention ;)
Great work! You remind me I need to do this myself. And don’t worry about the plastic….. it’s better than fussing about dropped spaghetti!
so true. and i can take the plastic off easily when the time comes.
good job! :)
thanks jess!
LOL @ the horse reference; poor chair. ;) p.s. Yummy fabric! I totally gave up on my old upholstered kitchen chairs and bought wood seated ones.
i was wondering if anyone would catch that horse reference ;)
I’ve had the same problem with using water to just spread the stain out haha. I had a big laugh at your “foiled again”. Now your chairs are beauties! One child seat covered in plastic is completely legit…it’s when you move to the big guns (sofas..) that an intervention is needed ;)
haha, not quite there yet. though i can see the appeal now. uhoh, the plastic cover gateway has been opened ;) (honest, it’s not going to be like laminating or labelling has been for me… not not not)
Thanks for sharing! I have to re-do my kitchen chairs too and I’m thinking about using the dreaded plastic as well … when I was little I vowed I’d never have plastic on my chairs since I *hated* how it felt in the summertime when my legs would practically always stick after sitting down! But now with my 5 year old it’s just inevitable … plus I accidentally spilled Hawaiian Punch all over 2 chairs this week so I think your post is pretty much a heavenly sign, lol.
ha! and oh yes, i remember that sticky plastic on the legs feeling!
Ha! You always make me smile, Ana!
I actually got to the point with the 4 boys that I bought a black cloth shower curtian and recovered my navy and white striped dining chairs with the WATER RESISTANT (read stain resistant) shower curtain!
It truly works like a charm.
I thought it was tacky at first, but you know the angst one feels looking day in and out at the stained sad excuse for a chair.
I also put plastic over a nice padded cloth table cloth and saved myself the pure anguish of worrying over stains and messes!! Tacky, maybe, sanity saving ABSOLUTELY!
Your kids have to be pretty tidy if you just find yourself doing this. I cracked 4 or 5 years back! LOL
Lovely fabric. Look better then new :)
A
thanks amanda, nice to see you here! and yes, i know that angst :)
You did a swell job my dear ;D
These chairs must be *kissing your butt* every time you sit on them and thanking you for returning them to a fine fancy style ;D lol
What a day, huh???? Enjoy it. It’s crazy beautiful ;D xoxo
i feel strangely violated by that comment! and i will never think of my chairs in the same way again :-/ gorgeous day, absolutely, with more to come!
Ha Ha Ha OMG – I’m so sorry
IT must have been that Spring Fever!!!! LOL
~ i’m sure they will be gentle ;D