Remember back in the summer when I bought these awesome Goodwill Chairs for $1.30? Yes, you heard me right. 130 cents for BOTH chairs. Well, they have been sitting in my garage ever since and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to bring them out and finally give them a well needed makeover. After a little TLC, I transformed the chairs into these beauts.
If you can’t remember what they looked like before here is a quick before and after.
I chose dove white for the paint color and after 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint these chairs were looking good as new. The look wouldn’t be complete without this chic upholstery fabric I purchased at Hobby Lobby, it was a little steep at $24.99 a yard but it was 30% off AND I used a gift card that I won at The Frugal Girls, so still free for me!
I absolutely love how they turned out. You can’t beat a new set of chairs for only $1.30!
If you’re interested in all the lovely details of the transformation keep on reading…
I’d had my eye on this fabric at Hobby Lobby for quite some time. I loved the neutral tones and the beautiful typography. I knew it would fit perfectly in my updated family room. Here is a pic of my daughter and I on our outing to Hobby Lobby!
She was way more interested in the home decor accessories than taking a picture. I can’t argue with that.
1. I started by removing the cushion from the chair frame. Thankfully it wasn’t attached so it just lifted right off.
2. My naked chair.
3. Looking at some of the places where the paint had rubbed off, it was clear that this was easily the 3rd or 4th time these chairs have been painted. Instead of sanding down all 3 layers of paint, I choose just to sand down the areas were the paint was chipping and smooth it out. If you were doing this the ‘right’ way, I suppose you should sand down the whole chair. If these were real antiques I would have, but since they were only $1.30 it was worth the shortcut in my book.
I started with a coat of primer. I was not happy with how the primer was looking with a paint brush. You can see how the brush strokes were very visible and the primer was thick and gooey. I switched over to a small paint roller and I was MUCH happier with how it looked. See how smooth it is compared to the brush?
I applied 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of dove white paint to achieve the look I wanted.
Now onto the upholstery.
4. I started by removing the existing fabric from the seat cover. I used a screw driver to loosen up the staples and then pulled the fabric off.
5. To my surprise I found ANOTHER layer of upholstery. I told you these bad boys had been worked on before.
6. Now I know why these were recovered.
7. These staples were obviously the originals. They were rusted and I honestly wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pry them off.
8. I used some pliers to pull the remaining staples out of the wood.
9. Ahhh nice and clean again.
10. I used the original upholstery as a pattern for my new seat cushions.
11. Now, I don’t know about you but I like a little extra padding under my toosh (not that I don’t have enough already), so I used some pillow stuffing to add an extra layer of padding between the wood and the foam pad. It actually made a big difference.
12. Next, I placed the seat on top of my new fabric and started the upholstering process. It’s actually extremely simple, just pull the fabric as tight as possible and staple it around each side. Keep tugging at the fabric as you move around all of the sides.
What a transformation! I’m still smiling about this one :)
About Taryn Whiteaker
Hi! I’m Taryn! The voice behind Taryn Whiteaker Designs. I launched this brand over 11 years ago when I became a stay-at-home mom. What started as a small craft and mom blog eventually grew into a full time design and DIY site. My goal has always been to inspire others (especially women!) with design ideas, DIY tutorials, entertaining ideas and give you the tools you need to complete them yourself!
Oh wow Taryn – they turned out amazingly xx Nat
CONGRATS GIRL!!! Those chairs look fabulous :) Can’t wait to see what you have in store for next week :)
You did a great job! Love your blog.
You should be smiling – these are lovely! Great job!
These chairs look fabulous! Love the fabric too! New Follower via LF. Please visit my blog and say hello! I love to make new bloggy friends and followers too :)
Heather @ settingforfour.blogspot.com
I am smiling too! Love these…
I laughed when you mentioned the seat just lifted off, haha. Great find and even better redo! And you deserve moving forward in the Creative Bloggers contest. You are crazy talented!
droooooooool! Those are awesome!!! I love love love the fabric you chose. Great job!
Congrats on winning – I voted for these :) What a score at Goodwill – can’t wait to see your next project!
This is great. I did this with some chairs at home. Greetings from me and Czech Republic.
Those chairs are adorable. They don’t even look like the same chairs. Are you sure you aren’t playing a trick on us???????
Great chairs- adding you to my google reader.
Gorgeous! I love the fabric, and the final outcome!!! I’m currently working on my first chair overhaul, and recovering the cushions…nerve wrecking, but exciting! :)
Leanne @ because (i think) i can
I saw your chairs over at Every Creative Endeavor. They turned out so beautiful!! Well done! Thanks for sharing at oopsey daisy!
They look so great! Good job!
taryn,
these turned out fabulous! love the typographical fabric too.
They look beautiful! I’m in love with the fabric you chose from Hobby Lobby. What a transformation!
Very nice!! Love your choice of fabric and I see you are raising a girl with a good eye for shopping!! Thank you for linking up with Uncommon! Bonnie ;)
These chairs look fantastic! You’ve inspired me to check out my local Goodwill to see if I can find any deals myself! Beautiful job.
The chairs turned out fantastic. Love your choice of fabric. What a cute blog you have, I’m so happy I found it. Hope you wil stop by my blog and visit.
new follower!
Ivy
LOVE. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for next week! Thanks for linking up!
You did a great job on these chairs. I love Good Will deals!
These look amazing! Great job!
I’d love to have you join my link party going on now at my blog.
Amy @ Gabriel’s Good Tidings
gabrielsgoodtidings.blogspot.com
Fantastic makeover, Taryn! You kill again! : )
~Abbie
These chairs are amazing. Gorgeous transformation!!! Can’t believe the price. So awesome.
Ruth
Wow! Good job! You’d never know what they were like before.
Awesome transformation! Love it!!!!
Great job Taryn! I love the fabric, so bright and cheery,that is quite the transformation:) I would love if you could come and share it at my latest cheap finds and transformations, I would love to feature you this week!
Those look seriously amazing!!! You would never know they were the same chairs and the fabric definitely was the perfect choice. You did a fantastic job and we are so glad you shared this with us at Inspiration Friday this week! :-)
Vanessa
P.S. Your daughter is just so adorable!
These are just gorgeous! Absolutely love the fabric, goes perfectly with the white! What an amazing transformation!
These look great! Nice choice on the fabric.
~Steph @ Silver Boxes
Your GW chairs look fabulous! Following you from tdc-stop by for a visit!
Saw your chairs over at HOH
Super job, love that fabric!
gail
That transformation is amazing!
:)
Linda
Boy are those beautiful chairs! The fabric is great! I’ve seen french script before but that fabric is really nice! Looks great with the white!
Susan
Now THAT is a transformation -well done! We hope to see you over at the RRR party starting tomorrow morning!
-Whitney
I swear I was looking at a picture from my house when I saw these chairs! I updated an old chair with the same fabric from Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago :) Don’t you love it? http://www.thriftyandchic.com/2012/01/recovered-salvaged-chair.html
~Alicia @ thriftyandchic.com
I adore these chairs! The fabric is terrific!
These chairs turned out great. Thanks for linking up to Thats the Ticket!
What a great DIY Taryn! LOVE Goodwill finds and this post make me want to go on my own rescue mission! Great to discover your blog and look forward to future DIYs!
They turned out wonderful and I love how you photographed them too. Beautiful.
Thanks for the idea. I need to redo the cushions on my dining room chairs.
I love what you did to make these chairs new again! They look really good! :) Fresh and clean!
Wow! what a transformation! I love what you have done with the chairs! Great choice of fabric.
These are gorgeous chairs! I always love a good furniture revamp project!
Those chairs are absolutely beautiful! They look like they are right out of the Pottery Barn catalog! I am wondering about the padding/stuffing on the chairs. How do you decide what to use and how much?
Thanks,
Kathy Pickart