Project Reupholster

Our family room furniture was purchased when we moved in 11 1/2 years ago.  We loved it, but over time it has become a completely different color.  In part, due to extreme fading, and because it's gotten spilled on, sat on, played on, and lived on.  The last few years we haven't even had our big chair and ottoman up stairs (which is Mike's favorite chair!) because the pattern didn't match the new colors we decorated with.

I've toyed with the idea several times of reupholstering at least the chair.  My sister has nodded along with my idea every six months or so probably thinking, "Just do it already!"  Well...it's started.

A couple days ago my mom went with me to a big warehouse 30 minutes away to look at upholstery fabric because I wasn't quite convinced that Joann's had what was best for us.  It was overwhelming.  This place was HUGE and fabric everywhere of every kind.  I almost walked out.  But, we jumped in and started moving bolts until we managed to find a color that we both thought would work great in a micro-suede that I wanted.

This was hard work!  These bolts were heavy and there were millions and all the grays I wanted to look at seemed to be in the back.  On top of that - nothing was organized by color and we needed several rolls to get the yardage we needed.  We thought we were going to be about 10 yards short when mom found a giant roll and we were in business.

I had called Mike prior to purchasing.  I had only intended to buy enough for the chair and ottoman.  But, it's the type of place where they only get one shipment so if you come back and it's gone...too bad.  I told him I thought we should get enough for the chair and ottoman, but also the couch and loveseat.  He agreed.  42 yards of fabric later, mom and I were on our way.

When I got home, Mike and I set right to work.  He's got the week off and jumped right in to help me get the chair upstairs.  This alone was a feat.  For some reason we could get the front of the chair through the door, but not the back - even though they should have been the same width.  Suddenly Mike says, "Uhhh...I just put a massive hole through it."  We did a final shove and got it upstairs...

I looked at him and said, "I guess we are going to have to reupholster this now."

Then came the fun part...staple removal.

Jake helped for a bit.  We worked in our eating area (having displaced our table and chairs to the family room) so we could easily sweep or find staples.  There were lots.  We used a screwdriver and hammer to pry each and every one of them out.  FIVE HOURS later the last staple was removed.  And by "removed" I mean the fabric was ripped off and the staple was left on the frame.  Mike was DONE with this stage.

I took tons of pictures of the chair assembled, and lot of pictures as we got to each new stage.  It's a bit of a puzzle at first trying to figure out which pieces come off first and taking notes to make sure you do everything backwards correctly.

As of today, we have most of the chair covered.  The only thing left is the cushion for the bottom of it.  My parents, my sister, Mike and I have all put in time and I'm super excited about it's turned out so far.

This morning Mike, my dad, and our kids removed the staples from the couch and we are going to get started on that one tomorrow!  I'll have pictures later of what we've got accomplished so far.  So exciting!!