I had five consecutive days off of work, during which time I had a wishlist of things to get done.  I wound up only getting a few of the things on my list finished, but fortunately, the big one was my craft room chair makeover.

This chair is 20+ years old, and looked it.  There are tons of step-by-step videos on YouTube, and I would recommend starting there if you want to tackle a project like this.  It only took a few hours and some hard work once I got started.

A few tips:

• 

  Krypto was totally uninterested in what I was doing

  Make sure that you have enough of whatever fabric you choose to match patterns if you need to.  I didn’t on this project because I was just using up a large upholstery weight remnant that I would never in a million years use for anything else and was doing the project just to see if I could.  I came close, but not quite.  Fortunately, this chair also has a black plastic shell for the backrest, so I only had to upholster the seat and front of the backrest.  We’ll just call my pattern mismatching intentional.

• Work on those corners and angles.  I didn’t do it very well, so there are some visible folds on the edges, but they look okay, and definitely better than before.  My fabric didn’t have a lot of stretch, and that may have been the problem.
• Take pictures, not just for before and after photos, but so you know how to reassemble your chair after you’ve disassembled it.
• This project required a Phillips-head screwdriver, hammer, mallet, and Allen Wrenches.
• I used an electric staple gun and 3/8″ staples.  Be prepared to use a little muscle to get your staples to go all the way in your wooden base.  I tried using longer staples, and they would not go all the way in.  In this case, less is better.
• Have a sheet or something down on the floor so you can work without worrying about getting your project dirty.
• I added some poly quilt batting, especially to the arms, which had totally deflated over the years.
• I chose not to spray paint anything, as the base was in great condition.  The back is also a black plastic shell, with only minimal scuffing.  I just cleaned it well.

I still have a lot of leave left for this leave year, and two more chairs to do.  And better fabric.  And a little more motivation now that I’ve done it once.

UPDATE:  I had to redo my sad little lumbar pillow too.  I reused the stuffing with a little added.