Thursday, September 19, 2013

Retro armchair makeover

A few weeks ago I spied a horrid old chair at the op shop.  But I could see it had great potential for a makeover!  I sent Dave a photo and asked if he was interested in doing up the chair together.  He said sure, why not, so a lovely friend's husband picked it up and brought it home for us (our cars are too small).

Here's how it started out.


We took off the cushions and gave it a really good sand.  I loved the colour of the timber (I think it's teak) so we decided we would just buy a clear varnish.  Here it is naked and sanded.


I went to spotlight and bought some gorgeous fabric. :)


We gave the timber a few coats of varnish, and gave a few extra coats to the arm rests to make them extra glossy.

I made some lining for the metal frame from blockout curtain fabric, so it would protect the cushion covers from being damaged by the frame.


I made some piping for the cushions.


I got new foam for the seat and back.  The original seat would have been OK to reuse but the back foam was urk.  The cushion cover for the seat wasn't TOO tricky and I got it to fit the first time (YAY).  The cushion cover for the back was a lot trickier.  It had to go over the foam and the metal frame, but the frame wasn't as tall as the cushion.  It didn't fit well the first time, so I had to make some adjustments.  It still wasn't quite right but I hand sewed a fold once the cover was on the cushion and you'd never know. it was there. :)


And here's the finished chair!  We're so happy with it! It's in a lovely spot to sit and read a book in the sun.  It reclines too!

 

So here's what it cost us.
Chair $20
Foam $70
Fabric, piping, zip $20 (awesome sale on the fabric)
Varnish $25 (heaps left over)

Here's something funny.  When I unrolled the fabric to look at a big piece I realised there was a blur of hot pink in one spot.  I thought it was a fault - yippee, maybe I'll get it for even cheaper!  But as I kept unrolling I realised it was a ginormous Eiffel Tower printed onto the fabric.  It's about 2m tall.  So bizarre!   What would you use it for?  Really tall blinds?  Bizarro!

 


6 comments:

nicole said...

That Eiffel Tower is SO odd! Maybe quilt backing??
The chair looks fabulous! You guys have done a great job!!

Zara said...

Oh gosh, what a makeover.
The black and white with the timber looks amazing. x

Lea said...

It is such a great chair and do nice that you worked on it together:)

sky-blu-pink said...

Wow! What a transformation! And what a bonus, finding an Eiffel Tower there too!

Sheree said...

What a fabulous makeover Yvette! Your new chair looks gorgeous!!! You're so clever!

Eimear said...

What a great idea, I would love to try this! Thanks for the inspiration :-)