Re-covering a Mid-Century Contemporary Style Chair: Red and Gold, Vinyl, Brass Blast from the Past! 08.24.2010
Check out this mid-century contemporary style chair guys. Do you love it? Can you believe that I got it for FREE? Well, you had better love it AND believe it! 'Cause it's awesome AND true. When I saw it up for grabs on Kijiji for $5, I knew it had to be mine. I had never re-covered a chair before, but thought this 'lil guy would be a marvelous place to start.
Actually, I had originally wanted to write a post about this chair when I started Billie Monster back in June, but I forgot to take photos of the process! Argh! So up until today, the only glimpse of the chair you would have gotten was if you were looking closely at the last photo in A Handsome New French Memo Board. But, I'm happy to report that I now have a before photo! How? Interesting tidbit: Turns out that the person selling the chair, and who gave it to me for free, was Colin! Who is, coincidentally, a guy I went to college with in '02 - small world! He sent me HIS photo - oodles of thanks Colin!
Behold...the red and gold, vinyl, brass blast from the past. Duct tape feet and all!
After disassembling the seat and backrest from the frame, I removed the old vinyl material from them being careful not to rip the material because I wanted to use it as the pattern for my new fabric. It was easy, you just have to pull out about a million gazillion rusty staples. What I did was lay the removed vinyl pieces over my new fabric, traced 'em, then cut out the shapes. I tossed the old batting away it was gross and icky and cut a new piece of thick batting to put beneath the new fabric. I primed the frame/legs white and then spray painted it white. Next, I just attached the batting and new material back onto the frame with a gazillion NEW staples. The back of my backrest is actually visible so I secured the fabric here with careful folding and decorative nails - keeping true to the original design as well.
The fabric I chose was from Ikea and is called Gunilla (Turquoise) - it's still available. You might also notice I used this same fabric here! I ♥ it.
This project was featured here: Better After, Pretty Haus, also on Craftgawker
Link Party ♥: Creative Chic Parade, Simply Designing, Sugar Bee, Simpsonized Crafts, Bella Before & After, The DIY ShowOff, Todays Creative Blog, All Thingz Related, New Nostalgia, Lucky Star Lane, Gypsy's Corner, Fun to Craft, The Creative Juices, Oops I Craft My Pants, Somewhat Simple, The Girl Creative, Nikki's Nifty Knacks, Blue Cricket, Someday Crafts, The Thrifty Home, Night Owl Crafting
What people are saying...
LOVE IT. You did a fabulous job!!!
thats amazing and to think people toss chairs out like that everyday.
Great job as always Billie. I love blue and white.
Oh wow! That looks so awesome! I am going to Ikea this week, I am going to check out their fabric for sure. What a small world it is...who would of thought that you would of known the person you go the chair from..
Wow! What a difference! You have such a great eye! I'm so glad you got your hands on a before pic so we could see the transformation. Loving it! Loving your site!! XOXO, Andy
LOVE the chair!
Fabulous job! Love the lines and that fabric.
HI! Thanks for stopping by Nap-time creations and leaving a comment. I love your chair, too!
Way to go on re-covering your first chair - looks fabulous!!
That turned out fantastic! I love the fabric! And it is really clean and classy! :)
B. U. TI. FUL! What a great job! It looks great :)
Yuck! What an ugly chair! BEFORE I mean. Now it is FABULOUS!!! What a huge difference, I shall never look at an ugly chair the same again. :D You did an excellent job!
Holy Cow! I would never guess that thing could dress up so well! You did a great job! Thanks for linking up to We Can Do It Cheaper!
I actually noticed (and think I mentioned) the chair in a previous comment. When I first saw a clip of this post, I thought you were changing it from the blue. I see now you are time traveling instead. LOL What a wonderful transformation! I loved the chair before, but now I can really appreciate where it came from! :) ~ANKH
LOVE love love! this chair. I love Mid Century Modern, you really brought this chair back to life.
Billie - I love this chair! It looks amazing! I also love that you became a follower of my blog - I've been following yours for a bit now. Pay attention to a post that will show up a week from today - I think you'll like it! :)
Great transformation! We are so glad you joined us for Anything Related! Come back tomorrow for another great party!
Great transformation!
Awesome job on the chair! I love the new look! :) <a href="http://justbettertogether.blogspot.com/">Just Better Together</a>
Awesome redo! Thanks for visiting my blog.
That is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute! Thanks so much for linking it to gettin' crafty on hump day! :)
Oh my gosh I love it! That is a fantastic makeover!
Hey Lady! I just love all of your comments. They always bring a smile to my face or make me laugh! Thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog :) Hannah @ http://youngancrafty.blogspot.com/
So great! I love the pattern! So glad I popped by from Night Owl Crafting!
love it! and the new material is perfect! why isn't there an ikea near me so I can fabric shop there! so sad :(
It's really gorgeous, and looks so much cleaner and nicer than before! I love the colour contrasts. How did you fix the feet?
Love your chair re-do :)
It looks great! The fabric is super cute. Next time you do something similar, you need to take lots of pics and do a tutorial. The back on that chair would be really intimidating for me.
Hey bebs - just testing stuff. Your chair is pretty sweet
This is an adorable chair makeover! I just finished a desk chair, but now I want to try something like this. Love your blog, by the way! Lauren
А! Awesome posting. Benar-benar menikmati membaca posting blog Anda.
I just wanted to let you know that I featured your fabulous chair in a recent article (with a link back, of course) - love it!!
This is a fantastic view of the situation, I don’t think I’ve quite seen it from that perspective before.
baie geleer
What do you think?