Bedroom Chair

I was gifted this chair on Freecycle by a lovely guy called Nigel who even delivered it for me. It is a reproduction button back chair that has seen better days - but I am going to give it a new lease of life.

Looking a little unloved

I started by stripping off  the brass trim. This was not as time consuming as I thought it would be because instead of individual tacks it was one long piece.

Removing the trim

Then I removed all the old fabric. I did this carefully as I needed to use the old fabric as a template for cutting the new fabric out.

Fabric removed

 Once stripped, I sanded and filled the frame (which was actually basically sound). I gave it four coats of white emulsion then waxed the paint. This part was quite time consuming as each layer of paint needed to dry fully. Whilst the paint was drying I cut the fabric out.



 I chose a striped fabric from Laura Ashley which was in the sale and only£6.00 a metre. It is a canvas type fabric so should be hard wearing on the chair.

Sanded down

First coat of paint

The back was originally buttoned but I haven't re-buttoned it as I want a more modern feel to the chair. I made a paper template of the back fabric, taking out the pleats, so I could make sure it fitted before cutting the fabric.The other pieces were cut directly from the original fabric as these were the correct size.

Once I laid out the fabric on the chair I realised I had cut one piece upside down so the stripes did not match - I cut this piece out again as luckily I had enough spare fabric. I plan to use some of the left over fabric to make cushion covers for the spare bed so it won't be wasted.

Pixel helps to lay out the fabric!

Making a paper pattern for the seat back 

Fabric laid on chair - spot the mistake!

More to follow - getting to the tricky bits now!