(Thank you all for your sweet words of encouragement on my last post! I feel very affirmed.)
There are two main reasons why, as I've said before, my style tends towards the vintage/old. First of all, I tend to like old things better than new things – particularly when it comes to furniture. I love old wood. I long for interesting hardware. I swoon over dovetailed joints.
Secondly, I can't afford new furniture! Certainly not the lovely, well-made new furniture that I like (turns out I have expensive taste). And as I've been trying furnish a house with twice as much space as anywhere I've lived since moving away from home, I've found that even the generic and/or poorly-made furniture is (to my mind and budget) prohibitively expensive.
Luckily, I enjoy stalking craigslist, rummaging through the aisles at Goodwill, and lurking around antique stores, waiting for just the right thing to come up. And by “just the right thing,” I mean “something well-made, but flawed” so that those pesky shoppers with deeper pockets will pass by, and I can swoop in.
Like these chairs.
I found this set of six vintage chairs (two with arms, four without) literally hanging from the ceiling in one of my first visits to a neat antique store near our new home. They have some lovely things there, but most of it is way out of my price range. I'm still a little surprised that these were so reasonably priced ($100 for all six, for the record; I've heard of the land of $5 chairs, but sadly this is not it); I haven't had a bit of luck there since.
I think it has to do with the fact that the frames are painted dark brown (or possibly it's a very dark, opaque stain. I feel silly for not being able to figure it out), and the seats were covered in… Christmas fabric.
Now, I know some people have special Christmas china (my grandmother had a cute set of poinsettia dishes that she would bring out for the holidays), but Christmas chairs? Really?
I have so many questions! Like, did you hide them away during the rest of the year? Or was it Christmas all year round? Or did the seats change with the seasons (Halloween seating, anyone?), and you just happened to get rid of them around New Year's?
I don't know. But really, I shouldn't judge, because I suspect they're mine thanks to Santa's workshop, the less-than-charming finish, and a whole lotta dust. And I actually think they're really cute chairs! What's more, they're sturdy – you can sit down and wiggle all you want, and the the chair doesn't wiggle with you. That is a serious virtue.
Obviously, they needed a good cleaning and a change of fabric on the seats. Before we bought them, the Lt. and I turned them over to make sure that they weren't going to give us any trouble in this department. It was at this point that we learned that the beautiful Christmas fabric was held on by… wait for it…
Scotch tape!
Perfect – I got them home, unscrewed the seats, and stripped them of their holiday cheer in a jiffy!
What was left was, I believe, the original upholstery. It was much more firmly attached and removing it would've disturbed the delicate balance of the seat cushion fillings underneath. So rather than tackle re-padding it all (and since it was a little dingy, but not at all gross), I just stapled my own fabric right over it. Now, I'd never done this before, but some tips from the handy folks at Young House Love helped me believe in myself and my staple gun, and sure enough – it was as easy as I suspected it would be!
I actually bought this fabric on a whim back before I went to college – I was at the fabric store with my mom, it was in the clearance bin, and I liked it so much we agreed that I should buy all of it (two big pieces of several yards each), even though I had no idea what to do with it.
I had a brief scare when I decided it would be perfect for these chairs and then couldn't find it among our things – could I really have toted these yards of pretty fabric around for ten years, only to have them lost by the movers in my time of need?
(They were folded up between some blankets. Crisis averted.)
Part of why I could never commit to using it is because it had this pretty border, which made me hesitant to cut it up, but I couldn't figure out how to use all of it at once, either. (Curtains seem like the obvious choice, but the print is actually rather busy for curtains – and I love bright, bold patterns!)
I decided to just go for it. Since the chairs would only use about half of what I had, I'd still have one big piece with pattern and border intact, and I already had a plan for (at least part of) the border.
Two of the seats were a little more beat up than the others; the original upholstery had shredded in the front, leaving the cushion padding (a combination of straw and some sort of thick batting) exposed. The straw was poking through my fabric, so on those I added a layer of some quilting batting I had lying around to the front before stapling away.
This doesn't add any noticeable bulkiness (I couldn't tell you at this point which chairs have it), but solved the pokey problem nicely.
Here's what they look like now:
And in action:
Another thing I love about these chairs is that they're big enough to be comfortable, but small enough to fit easily around our table (craigslist), which wouldn't accommodate six bulkier chairs.
The reason why this is a redo-in-progress is that I do plan on painting the frames someday (I haven't actually screwed the seats back in yet, because I'm under the delusion that I'll paint them sooner rather than later). But that would require committing to a color… Black? Red? Blue? Green? So many possibilities! But for now the finish actually goes well enough with our other furniture, and it's in good enough shape to live with until I decide!
KatieR says
That fabric is LOVELY! You did such a great job. I'm impressed! For painting, if I was doing it (and practicality won out against my better judgement) I would probably paint them black. But secretly, they would be oh so pretty, I think, if you painted them a bright white or yellow or even a deep turquoise. Then you might have to refinish the table, though….
Such a gratifying do it yourself! You should be proud.
Rosie says
See, this is why I haven't painted them yet – every option is tempting!
Isara says
Just wanted to say I love those chairs. That fabric is gorgeous, and to my mind you don't need to paint the wood at all! 🙂
Melanie B says
Very cute! I love the fabric– the new floral print, not the Santa stuff.
Heather says
I love the fabric! That is exactly like what I'm looking for to recover my mismatched chairs. Why not paint each chair a different color from the print? Maybe a couple of shades of blue, yellow/orange, green, and red. My great grandmother had six wooden chairs at her table, each a different color (no seat cushions), and my favorite part of dinner was deciding which chair to sit in “this” time. But now I'm projecting my wish list onto your home, when really I just want to say congrats on the thrifty find and beautiful redo in progress.
Heather says
P.S. Could you incorporate the trimmed off fabric border into a table runner?
Rosie says
Hmm… that's an interesting idea! I've used part of it already (I'll show you another time), but still have some more hanging around. I'll have to ponder this.
suzy says
What a beautiful result. So inspiring!
Hoosier at Heart says
I am just loving that fabric. You did a great job. Can't wait to see what color you paint everything.
MamaHen says
Wow! These look great! I absolutely love the fabric. It was worth keeping all that time.
Jennie C. says
I vote for red! Those would be just the cutest chairs ever. 🙂
sarah says
Great project!
Lori says
The chairs are lovely as they are! I suggest screwing the seats down and leaving them in their natural condition! You will soon be too busy to get around to painting them anytime soon! 🙂
Emily says
How beautiful! I think I would paint them red.
Ana says
Looks great Rosie! Love the fabric! When are you due with your little boy? Godspeed with the delivery!
Rosie says
Thank you! He's due at the end of December, so I should have a few more weeks to get things done around here!
Polly says
Well done! Last summer I bought 6 chairs for $100 at a yard sale. I quickly re-covered the seats but am still not sure what color to paint them, so they are still bright yellow-which has actually grown on me! People who only buy new don't know what they are missing!!
That Christmas fabric is a riot!!!
Betsy M says
Beautiful fabric and chairs Rosie! I second the comment about leaving the chairs as is for now, while you are pregnant. (unless you have the house all put together and your husband can finish up the project if necessary.) I wanted to comment in the last post about how smart you are about not painting your white walls. When pregnant with my first I could not tolerate the terrible wall paper in our new house and started ripping it off one evening. Needless to say I was put on bedrest and my husband was busy and the project did not get finished until the baby was 6 months old. Augh.
When you do go to paint it though, consider how much you like to wash furniture. I have a few pieces of black furniture and they need dusted and washed twice as frequently as any others because they show all of the dust and kids fingerprints. White is even easier then black in my opinion although I do love the look of black.
Marianne says
I just discovered an amazing product that literally made all the tiny scratches on our old piano with a very similar looking finish just disappear. It is called Restor. A. Finish. by Howard Products. All you do is rub it on, leave for a while and polish and the furniture gleams like new. I'd really recommend this before painting as I am never satisfied with the final finish on my painted furniture. Very cute chairs!
Rosie says
Thanks for the recommendation – I'll have to track some of that down, because my whole “wait until I find something flawed enough for no one else to want it” technique means we definitely have some dinged up wood around here!
tarynkay says
I second the recommendation for Restor-a-finish. I just used that on REALLY beat up dresser. I did not believe that it would work, and I was totally shocked that it did. I did have to rub it in with fine steel wool, but my dresser was much worse than your chairs. So I would give that a try before painting them, because it would be less work to try that and then paint over it if you end up wanting to, rather than painting them first and then deciding you really want bare wood and having to strip the paint off.
_Leila says
Rosie, it looks so pretty! You did a great job. They are the sweetest chairs!
And I'm proud to see a glass of iced tea there on the table 😉 I think we should aim to have a glass of iced tea somewhere in every photo on the blog. People could have to hunt for it and they'd tweet about finding it; it would be one of those things that would become an internet phenomenon and then we'd be rich and famous.
Rochelle says
Yes! I love this idea…my daughter (2.5.) adores story books with the same animal on every page (a bird or squirrel, etc.) Ice tea is perfect. Only Decaf for the nursing mothers here. 🙂
Rosie says
This is a fabulous idea! I love it.
(did you also notice the little white thing? What is that, and why couldn't I bother to move it before taking the picture? Who takes pictures with trash on the table?)
Tamim says
Rose petal. It could very possibly be a white rose petal, which would be artistic rather than trashy, right? 🙂
Rosie says
Brilliant! It's a (very artistic) rose petal. I'm sure of it.
_Leila says
Also, to give the whacked out Christmas fabric person her due, she did center the motif. I like that attention to detail in an utterly superfluous and tasteless project.
_Leila says
No offense.
Rosie says
Oh, Santa was *perfectly* centered on each and every chair. It was carefully done.
priest's wife says
about storing Christmas chairs off-season- that's what always goes through my mind when I see elaborate Halloween decorations- storing corpses and other evil stuff in the basement/garage all year
Anne says
love the chairs! and I agree, a great price! I mean one chair for $15-$20 is reasonable, but a SET for $100 is great. 🙂 Nicely done.
Rosie says
Thanks for the affirmation – you know I appreciate it! 🙂
Barb @ MDR says
Love the new fabric (not the old!). It reminds me of April Cornell. Personally, I wouldn't paint the chairs. I like the dark wood. I would just clean them up really well and touch up the scratches. Love the table, too! Very nice legs.
Rochelle says
Love these chairs!! Also love this fabric…beautiful! Well done. 🙂 From one young homemaker to another…
Rosie says
Lest anyone worry that I pull out the paint and start refinishing these chairs on the way to the delivery room, let the record show I actually recovered the seats in July. The seats may fall out if you turn the chairs upside-down, but otherwise they are sturdy, in daily use, and in no danger of getting painted anytime soon!
However, that doesn't mean we can't wonder about colors (I have a whole rainbow of paint chips that I picked up this summer, back before I became crippled with indecision and decided to put that part of the project off).
I lean towards black or red, but am sort of tempted by just about every color.
margo says
oh ROSIE!!!! that fabric!! I just adore it! And I think you were so clever to use it on your chairs. It is beautiful to look at, but surprisingly not busy in a bad way at all. Wow.
Great shape to those chairs, too.
I wouldn't worry about repainting the wood – it doesn't look bad at all. You'll feel happier letting your children be in your house if you don't have freshly painted chairs 🙂
womanofthehouse says
My theory on the Christmas fabric is that the chairs were in the formal dining room which they only used on Christmas. lol
Great job! I've re-padded and put new fabric on our chairs, too, and I was amazed how easy it is. Your fabric is gorgeous! Well done!
RCG says
Hopefully the polishing idea works….one less thing to deal with.
But red if you like Mary Englebreit.
Black if you like classic and polishing off your babies fingerprints.
Blue sounds IKEA to me.
Green may render them Christmassy again.
RubberChickenGirl
Deirdre says
Oh, Rosie does love Mary Englebreit!!
RCG says
I forgot to point out….ie scotch tape, if it's good enough for Buzz Lightyear!! My youngest daughter went through a whole year in LOVE with tape and was convinced it could repair anything. I gave her multiple rolls in her stocking that year. She's simple and easily please like her Mom.
Blessings…
RCG
Erin says
Those are fantastic. I love recovering dining chairs. So little work for such a big payoff. Yours look beautiful.
Meredith says
I vote for a deep turkey red on the chairs! Your new home is lovely and bright. I first thought of your mom's quilts hung over some of the blank white space for warmth and color.
Habou says
Rosie, I love the chairs and the fabric. What a great job you did. Red would look stunning.
Emily says
I love them just as they are now! The fabric is so cheerful, and I think the dark frames of the chairs sets it off perfectly.
Sue says
Oh, this post was just for me!!! I have been wanting to do this for at least a year, and now you have given me the courage. Our chairs are so horrible. They look like some giant crazed cat has gotten to them. It was just four kids and a rather small rabbit, in reality, but you would never know it!
You did such a beautiful job! Thanks for sharing the process – you made it look so easy.
Rosie says
It really was easy, and so gratifying! Let us know how it goes!
TessaDiane says
I recently redid my kitchen chairs and it gave such a fresh look to my kitchen. My table is a yellow formica 1950's table I used a zebra print oilcloth for the chairs. I love the contrast.
Deirdre says
Good for you for cutting up that fabric! That is so brave. That's the kind of thing I can almost never bring myself to do, but it was clearly the right choice and looks perfect. It's just so hard, especially with those precious pieces you've had sitting around forever!!
I'm going to end up draping unwieldy pieces of fabric awkwardly all over everything, because I'm so non-committal with cutting. I can just tell…
Kari says
Those are fantastically beautiful chairs and I love love that fabric!
Now you can use the border on some plain or striped muslin or something and make curtains with a border that matches your chairs….. just a thought!
Kari
Deirdre says
Or maybe on a tablecloth?
natashamlawler says
Rosie you are my hero!!! I love your new chairs. That fabric print is just so lively, yet still very classy. And the chairs have such nice lines.
Mary says
I am loving the fabric. It's stunning! As for the color…too many choices for me. I do like the idea of read or maybe green. Can't wait to see what you decide on.
Nancy says
A thought that honors the gorgeous border: Make very plain, solid colored or white curtains and then use the border to make tie-backs?
mel says
I am crazy jealous. I have a thrifted table with tragic, falling apart walmart chairs that don't even have the grace to match while I wait for the perfect refinishing-worthy chairs to come along, but the chairs aren't coming. I do love the fabric. I rather like the wood color, but if I was to pick a paint I'd vote to match the blue in the fabric.
Angela says
Dear Rosie I enjoy your posts so much! I have been trying to find a lovely tablecloth to use for Thanksgiving and Christmas-something like the one in your picture in the post where you had made paper garland in the kitchen. Now I'm wondering if that can be found or if you made it. I've looked everywhere I can think of. So please do share where you got that tablecloth. Thank you! 🙂
Rosie says
That tablecloth (and some matching napkins) came from either TJ Maxx or Marshalls – they very often have pretty, colorful French or Indian-inspired table linens that I find very hard to resist. They come and go in phases, but I try to pop down that aisle fairly often since a pretty tablecloth is an easy way to make things seem homey!
childrens armchairs says
I have been checking out a few of your article stories and I must say pretty clever stuff. I will definitely bookmark your blog. Thank you very much.
Molly says
Have you painted the chairs yet? I love the fabric-so inspiring!