Transforming previously loved furniture

February 10, 2020 By

I love a good furniture transformation. I find it so rewarding to transform previously loved furniture and make it my own.

It’s also very economical as typically the piece itself is either free or costs very little money, compared to a brand new piece. And the added extra bonus is that older furniture tends to be better made with more solid wood pieces than what you can buy currently.

This past summer, I went with my husband to the cottage dump and found this little tub chair. I immediately went to check it out as the tufting caught my attention. I also was also in need of a small scale chair for our new home.

Before vintage wicker and wood, upholstered tub chair
Before vintage wicker and wood upholstered tub chair

I made sure the wicker was in decent shape as it is hard to find someone to repair wicker. I’m sure you’ve seen this type of chair before as it’s a very popular design.

I plan to sand, prime and then paint it a soft old gray. I’ve selected this beautiful dark teal velvet to reupholster it with. And then accessorize it with a soft light gray faux fur pillow.

teal velvet and light gray faux fur
teal velvet and light gray faux fur

I am not sure where it will live in our new home, but perhaps the bedroom or the entry. Time will tell.

I’m really hoping it’s warm enough this week to prime and paint it in the garage. Fingers crossed.

Have you transformed previously loved furniture? I’ve done quite a few over the years. These are just a few of the chair ones that I’ve posted about.

I did this chair quite a few years ago, but it’s a favourite . It still lives nicely in my family room.

These two chairs were left behind by the previous cottage owner and I added a bit of height to them and reupholstered them for a completely new look.

My son and son-in-law redid these chairs that were my dad’s into extra living room seating for their home.

And more recently, I had the cushions on these wicker chairs redone to give them a fresh new look.

There are lots of ways to repurpose, reuse and recycle old furniture. Once my chair is all done, I’ll be sharing the reveal!

Filed Under: Haven Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mixing up fabric textures in a room

October 28, 2013 By

Last spring, I started redoing my family room, I shared my new sofa and coffee table in a previous post, shown below.

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I have always loved tufting and classic chairs so I went with this very traditional style.  Very different styling from my sofa and exactly what I was looking for.  I wanted large and comfortable for tv watching.

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But  since I was lusting over velvet,  I went with a hard wearing velvet that is cosy and practical.

This photo below shows the sofa fabric on the right, the floral fabric I had chosen for the throw pillows, and  the blue velvet sample.  As you can see I didn’t match the blue exactly in the throw pillows, it just references the blue.  Notice how different the fabric textures are? A woven for the sofa, a linen for the pillows and a velvet for the chairs, this makes the pieces much more interesting together.

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Did you notice the nail heads accenting the legs? Details, really make a piece sing.

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So would you do velvet or do you think it is too traditional?

And on another note, I did get back to my table this weekend. Hubby and I worked on the sanding down the table top which was much more time consuming than we thought.  Here’s how it looks now.

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Obviously we have a little more work to do…..dreading having to sand the intricate apron, as that will have to be done by hand…sigh.

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But I did get finish putting the dark wax on the base.  I’ll follow it up with a coat of clear wax when I’ve finished sanding the top.  I think you can see the depth the dark wax gives the finish (please ignore the sanding residue on the stretcher, I guess I didn’t clean that off too well).   Signature-00133

Filed Under: COLOUR, decor, family room, Furniture, furniture makeover, Haven, makeover Tagged With: , , ,

Breathing new life

March 2, 2012 By

In the summer I mentioned that I picked up this chair on the side of the road in this post.

And I was thrilled in this post where I wrote about House and Home showcasing the same fabric I planned to use to reupholster it, but in red.

Here’s how the chair makeover went…  I started by removing the blue fabric to see what was underneath.

This was the first layer above…weird no foam just this faux sheepskin inside (no wonder it wasn’t very comfortable).
Next…

This was about when I decided to use new wood for the seat frame….a little too scary for me.
And I apologize for the lack of photos of the process, I got carried away with doing it and forgot to take pictures.  But here’s the steps.

1.  I had my big box store cut a new piece of sturdy 1/2″ plywood the same size as the original piece.
2. Then I cut a 3″ thick piece of foam the same size as the board.
3. I used spray adhesive to place the foam on the board.  I then covered it with quilt batting to soften the edges.  The batting is cut about approximately 4″-5″ larger to be able to wrap it around the board and foam and staple it in place.

4. Cut your fabric piece about 6″-8″larger on all sides.  If your pattern has a specific center make sure that you decide how you want it to show on the seat front before you cut.
“Measure twice, cut once”.

5. Staple once on each of the four sides and ensure the pattern is straight then continue with a few staples on each side, stretching the fabric taut as you go.  Continue stapling until all sides are done.
7. Screw newly covered board in place on the chair.
8. I also made a matching throw pillow with a feather insert I had hanging around.  It makes the chair a little more comfortable.

Below is the seat and pillow, before I actually had my hubby put the seat in place.

I had originally planned to sand and stain the frame of the seat.  But being my usual impatient self, I just went ahead and did the upholstering, figuring that I could always remove the seat easily and stain or paint the frame later.  Not to mention, that I was having lots of trouble finding a gray stain that I liked.

TA DAA…..

Now that it’s in place I actually don’t mind the original finish as it matches the pine baseboards and logs throughout the cottage.  So I think it’ll stay as it is for the foreseeable future.  It really is lovely in my son’s room with the blue walls and carpet and they not going to be changed anytime soon.  There are far too many other things to do.

I’ve linked this post up to Free for All Fridays over at 5 days 5 ways.  Click on the link below to be inspired.

And to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.  Click below to check it out!

 

 

Filed Under: DIY, Furniture, furniture makeover, Haven, vintage Tagged With: , ,