I Did It-Recovered An Ugly Office Chair!

Date: August 17, 2011
Author: Admin

The 12 year old blue office chair is the first thing you see when you come down the stairs to the lower level in our house.  Yuck!

I saw this tutorial at Made by Meg and knew that I could “just do it”!
Here is the inspiration photo. Meg’s tutorial showed me the way! 

Photo from Made by Meg
Add caption

Here is our ugly blue chair!

See why it was bugging me!

You will have to read on to see how it turned out!

  Since this is my husband’s chair I knew that I had to be pretty conservative with my fabric choice.

I would have picked something like this from the Piece O’Cake Blog.

But since I figured I wasn’t the one who would be sitting in it…..I played nice and picked this fabric!

This was one of those projects that ended up being way easier than I thought it would be….a nice surprise!
Seriously, if I hadn’t gotten all OCD at the end about the finishing, I could have been done in less than 2 hours!

The Process
There was a definite space between the front and back of the top part of the chair.  
I did a little experimenting and realized that I could probably just push the fabric into the space.
THAT WORKED!
I didn’t make a pattern (typical Sweetwater Style)
I just cut a generous piece of fabric for the front and started tucking and trimming.
We were afraid to take the arms off…the chair is so old we thought it might never go back together again!
That meant I need to do a little more tucking and folding around the arms….more about that later.
Once the front was done….I did the same thing with the back.
I was actually pleased with the boring fabric because it is a chenille with a lot of give in it.  This made it stretch and tuck very well.
I used these tools for the tucking process because they were the first tools I saw in the drawer.
A couple of flat head screwdrivers or a cheap table knife would have worked too!
The next step was taking the back and seat apart.  
Got a little help with that because the bolts were on so tight….but with some “man” power we got it done!
Again NO pattern…I just turned the chair seat upside down on the fabric and cut around it.

The original seat was wrapped with an elastic binding that was not attached to the actual chair….kind of like a shower cap.

That made it easy to just pinch and tuck the new fabric around and underneath the old stuff.

 

Here is the seat once the new fabric was all tucked in.

 Now I had to decide how to attach it.

I considered using my trusty glue gun….and that would have worked.

But since I have my wonderful compressor and stapler I decided to see if I could staple into the cardboard frame.  (I never said this was a quality chair)

That worked very well…giving me the ability to stretch and tuck all the way around.

Once that was done….I was too impatient to wait for “man” power and I put the chair back together with only “woman” power….I am sure John will “check my work” before he sits down!

Here is the chair in my workroom!


 From

           FADED

                 PILLED

                          REALLY UGLY

To
Pretty Darn Nice!

Don’t You Agree?
OCD Disclaimer About Finishing!
When I got the chair back together, I wasn’t satisfied with some of the places where the back wasn’t tight enough and where there were puckers where the arm attached to the seat back.  I got out my trusty curved needle and tightened up those areas.  Wouldn’t have HAD to do that….but you know!
Since every chair is different
Check out these posts with tutorials for redoing office chairs for inspiration for your own project.
Piece O’Cake Blog Tutorial

I am inspired to do my sewing chair next!

 AND…..I won’t be needing to choose a conservative fabric for this!
What do you think of these?

Looks like a trip to the fabric store for ME!
But now I have to watch the DVD that came with my new VITA MIX Blender so I can operate it! 
Go Figure that the blender is so complex that it needs it’s own DVD!
We are gonna make ice cream….wish us luck!

I am linking to these link parties, go take a look at the great ideas out there!

Fireflies and Jellybeans
Craft Junkie Too









504 Main
Miss Mustard Seed
Under the table and Dreaming


Craftomaniac Mondays
Amaze Me Monday
A Round Tuit
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Take A Look Tuesday
Tuesday Time Out
Tootsie Wootsie Time Out


Wicked Awesome Wednesday
The Kreative Korner Tea Time Thursday 

Home and Family Friday Linky Party

Not Bad Sundays


20 Below Thursday


Sumo’s Sweet Stuff


tip toe through Tuesday

Perfectly Imperfect

FunkyJunk Interiors

Mad In Crafts

0 comments on “I Did It-Recovered An Ugly Office Chair!”

  1. Finger Click Saver

    Hello…new follower from the COJ hop. Your chair came out fabulously! I did a similar project on a computer chair we were given for my daughter's room. I was re-doing the decor and all in her room and the chair did not match anything (quite ugly at that)! So I spray painted the base and made cozies for the seat and back. Came out fabulous! I was a happy camper.

  2. Karima

    What a great transformation, my husbands office chair really needs a makeover, I just need to make a start! I ma now google friend following you, Karima x http://www.karimascrafts.com

  3. Meg Issacs

    Hi! I am your newest follower from the
    blog hop! I would love it if you could follow me back
    and we become bloggy friends! 🙂

    Have a lovely day,
    ~meg~
    a meg moment

    http://agemmoment.blogspot.com/

    PS
    Love the chair!!!

  4. Laura

    Great job on the chair. I wish I was handy. I would simply get frustrated and give up. Now following you from Footloose and Fancy Free. Have a great weekend!

  5. Design It Chic

    The chair turned out really pretty! You have some skills there, no joke:) I'm glad I discovered your blog and I am now following you thanks to Footloose and Fancy Free, and it would be so nice if you could share the love back on my blog;)
    Also today we have the coolest blog hop there is… no rules just fun and would love you to join in with us at Boost My Blog Friday, where you can meet lots of friends and have a great time:) See you there!
    Happy Friday!

  6. Anonymous

    I like it! I'm looking forward to seeing your prettier chair too – I like the last two fabrics best.

  7. Meg Carter

    Thanks for the shout out! I am glad I inspired you to recover you chair too! 🙂
    – Meg from Made By Meg

  9. Mary-Sweetwater Style

    Thanks Meg…you really did get me going! I am glad you directed us to the right page for the tutorial. But….I love your whole blog…so there!

  10. carolyn

    Love the makeover. I have a chair desperate for a similar treatment but I've been too scared to tackle it. Can't wait to see your sewing chair – all the fabrics you picked are gorgeous.

  11. tousled day

    This is helpfull, I have to dress up one for my brother. Tnx for tips…

  12. Jill

    Great re-do of the chair! Looks like new! Have fun making a funky patterned and coloured one for yourself!

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

  13. Christie, Describe Happy

    This looks great and thanks for the links to all the how-to's! I have an ugly chair that I use for sewing that might just need this kind of attention this week!

  14. Kathleen

    Great job! I may give it a try!
    Here from Diann's Thrifty Friday

  15. Kelly

    What a transformation! I know just what kinda chair you recovered, they are all over the place, and most get thrown away, great idea to recover them! Thanks for linking this how to up at Eat, Grow, Sew!

  16. Just Jaime

    Great job!

  19. Ann @ makethebestofthings

    Well done, woman! Can't hardly wait to see which gorgeous fabric you pick for the next chair…I love them all. Hmmmm, I need to take another look at my own chair now.

  21. donna bee

    Love the makeover. I have a chair desperate for a similar treatment but I've been too scared to tackle it. Can't wait to see your sewing chair – all the fabrics you picked are gorgeous.

    Office Chairs

  23. Candie

    I'm loving this makeover…especially because those desk chairs always seem to be so disposable for most people when all they need to do is a simple up cycle! Well done! 🙂 you should enter your up cycle in Craftbaby's "Upcycle Challenge"! http://www.craftbaby.com/contests/3/upcycle-it-sweeps

  24. Rory Fugerson

    This comment has been removed by the author.

I Did It-Recovered An Ugly Office Chair!

Date: August 17, 2011
Author: sweetwaterstyle

The 12 year old blue office chair is the first thing you see when you come down the stairs to the lower level in our house.  Yuck!

I saw this tutorial at Made by Meg and knew that I could “just do it”!
Here is the inspiration photo. Meg’s tutorial showed me the way! 

Photo from Made by Meg
Add caption

Here is our ugly blue chair!

See why it was bugging me!

You will have to read on to see how it turned out!

  Since this is my husband’s chair I knew that I had to be pretty conservative with my fabric choice.

I would have picked something like this from the Piece O’Cake Blog.

But since I figured I wasn’t the one who would be sitting in it…..I played nice and picked this fabric!

This was one of those projects that ended up being way easier than I thought it would be….a nice surprise!
Seriously, if I hadn’t gotten all OCD at the end about the finishing, I could have been done in less than 2 hours!

The Process
There was a definite space between the front and back of the top part of the chair.  
I did a little experimenting and realized that I could probably just push the fabric into the space.
THAT WORKED!
I didn’t make a pattern (typical Sweetwater Style)
I just cut a generous piece of fabric for the front and started tucking and trimming.
We were afraid to take the arms off…the chair is so old we thought it might never go back together again!
That meant I need to do a little more tucking and folding around the arms….more about that later.
Once the front was done….I did the same thing with the back.
I was actually pleased with the boring fabric because it is a chenille with a lot of give in it.  This made it stretch and tuck very well.
I used these tools for the tucking process because they were the first tools I saw in the drawer.
A couple of flat head screwdrivers or a cheap table knife would have worked too!
The next step was taking the back and seat apart.  
Got a little help with that because the bolts were on so tight….but with some “man” power we got it done!
Again NO pattern…I just turned the chair seat upside down on the fabric and cut around it.

The original seat was wrapped with an elastic binding that was not attached to the actual chair….kind of like a shower cap.

That made it easy to just pinch and tuck the new fabric around and underneath the old stuff.

 

Here is the seat once the new fabric was all tucked in.

 Now I had to decide how to attach it.

I considered using my trusty glue gun….and that would have worked.

But since I have my wonderful compressor and stapler I decided to see if I could staple into the cardboard frame.  (I never said this was a quality chair)

That worked very well…giving me the ability to stretch and tuck all the way around.

Once that was done….I was too impatient to wait for “man” power and I put the chair back together with only “woman” power….I am sure John will “check my work” before he sits down!

Here is the chair in my workroom!


 From

           FADED

                 PILLED

                          REALLY UGLY

To
Pretty Darn Nice!

Don’t You Agree?
OCD Disclaimer About Finishing!
When I got the chair back together, I wasn’t satisfied with some of the places where the back wasn’t tight enough and where there were puckers where the arm attached to the seat back.  I got out my trusty curved needle and tightened up those areas.  Wouldn’t have HAD to do that….but you know!
Since every chair is different
Check out these posts with tutorials for redoing office chairs for inspiration for your own project.
Piece O’Cake Blog Tutorial

I am inspired to do my sewing chair next!

 AND…..I won’t be needing to choose a conservative fabric for this!
What do you think of these?

Looks like a trip to the fabric store for ME!
But now I have to watch the DVD that came with my new VITA MIX Blender so I can operate it! 
Go Figure that the blender is so complex that it needs it’s own DVD!
We are gonna make ice cream….wish us luck!

I am linking to these link parties, go take a look at the great ideas out there!

Fireflies and Jellybeans
Craft Junkie Too









504 Main
Miss Mustard Seed
Under the table and Dreaming


Craftomaniac Mondays
Amaze Me Monday
A Round Tuit
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Take A Look Tuesday
Tuesday Time Out
Tootsie Wootsie Time Out


Wicked Awesome Wednesday
The Kreative Korner Tea Time Thursday 

Home and Family Friday Linky Party

Not Bad Sundays


20 Below Thursday


Sumo’s Sweet Stuff


tip toe through Tuesday

Perfectly Imperfect

FunkyJunk Interiors

Mad In Crafts