from Gardners 2 Bergers: Upholstery

Showing posts with label Upholstery. Show all posts

October 13, 2011

✥ Get What You Want {Thrifting} ✥

A good, well constructed hardwood chair can cost a pretty penny.
Since we've gotten a new couch I really wanted a chair that looked aged. Something with a vintage feel and a softer shape to contrast with the modern lines of the couch.

Here are some of the inspiration pics from my chair file. I kept these in mind while "shopping" the classifieds.
(I am so sorry, but these were not originally intended to be in a post, so I don't have links for them, sorry! Please let me know if you know where they're from so I can add the links. )

I love the curved back, outlined by the dark wood frame.

This is selling for 649$. Love how it was upholstered with two different fabrics and also love the sloped arms.

Look at the curves on this baby! That high back is total drama.

This chair with the crazy fabric is selling for around $3200!? Sheesh!

Here's a great "after," I like how this chair's a little softer with the curves and its legs are gorg. I think I'm headed in a similar final destination with mine.

This is the one I've found. It took me a few months to find it because all the chairs that resembled my inspiration photos were priced starting at $150. Not a great starting price when you add in the cost of fabric, paint, nailheads, and the lifetime it will take me to finish this project.

Can you see my "new" 1950's fan on the table behind the chair? Love it!

After several months I saw this guy in a classified and I knew he was "the one." It had only been listed a hour when I saw the ad, but when I called it was already spoken for.

I hemmed, I hawed about how much I wanted it. Then I remembered a post called Criaglist Ettiquette is for Suckers from Mandi at Vintage Revivals. {Do you read her, if no- then you should. She's completely awesome.} She mentioned how she was trying to buy though the classifieds and the item, a chair I think, was already sold, but not picked up. She offered the seller more money and they said, "Yes." Bold move, right? Maybe a little sneaky, but you snooze, you lose.

So I did it. I offered more money. The chair was already priced so ridiculously low that offering more was still a steal of a deal!

Here it is the the space. There's a lot of wood furniture happening in this photo, I know. But don't worry, it's just the before pic. Most every piece of furniture we had has been sold, will be sold, or has an appointment with a can of spray paint.

I think the hardest part of DIY isn't the labor or necessary skill, it's having the patience to search ads for months for just the right shaped chair, then to deal with the before phase -like orange/red paisley fabric- while you get the project done.
Speaking of a completed project, don't hold your breathe for the results on this one. It's my first real upholstery job, you know, not a ottoman or headboard, so wish me luck! Now get out there and buy what you want!

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party page.

I'm also linked up here.

June 21, 2011

Ottoman Makeover

Here's a ottoman I recovered last week. When I found it, the legs were cracked and discolored. Unfortunately, I didn't take a true "before" pic, because I decided to knock out the stained portion while up at my in-laws. They have a garage, while I only have a condo.

Recovering an ottoman is simple and easy. You'll love how fast the little piece can be transformed!

STAIN: I decided the legs would look best stained dark because of the chrome feet. So I used some I got on clearance. Ragged it on and wiped it off.
STRIP: That takes us to the next potion- the silk fabric was all discolored. Initially, there may have been only a small stain- which someone may have impatiently used some Resolve Carpet Cleaner on, which was sadly with her at her in-laws. Yeah, it didn't work. No matter, it needed to be updated anyhow. It was easy enough, just a few screws held the base to the top. Rip off/remove the black backing hiding 30,000 staples. I also pulled out the tufting at this stage. I like tufting- as you can see here for my dropcloth ottoman makeover- but I thought this one would feel too "stuffy".
WRAP: I seem to gravitate towards geometric patterns. But this was a lot easier to work with than stripes were on the headboard I covered. It's simpler to keep everything lined up when the object is small enough to manipulate and move around. I grabbed this fabric from JoAnn's ~ it's a Waverly print. got it for 50% off-so 10 bucks a yard. If you've never reupholstered an ottoman, it's very easy.

(a) Lay the fabric, good side down, on the floor.

(b) Lay the fabric, good side down, on the floor.

(b) Lay the cushion on top of it and line up the fabric.

(d) Then do the same to the opposite two sides

(e) Pull the corners down and staple them once you like how you've folded them. It's like wrapping a foam and fabric present-umm, with staples.

Thanks for stopping by! What fun patterns are you using in your home? Have you redone an ottoman lately?

Update: Check this out! I was featured on About.com in an article and "Color and Pattern"!! Make sure to check out these other AWESOME sites that featured my makeover!
Hope you like the "after"! Now if I could just learn to sew I could tackle my other ottomans.

April 21, 2011

Upholstered Headboard with Nail Head Trim

Ahhh, sweet success!

My headboard is FINALLY COMPLETE!

Click if you wanna hear the planning details and the search for all my budget friendly materials cause this post is about the actual construction.

Upholstering a piece of wood is easy peasy!

1) Sand the edges of the board

2) Apply spray adhesive to the MDF

2) Place foam (or whatever cushioning product you've chosen) on top of adhesive sprayed board

3) Place layer of batting over the foam

4) Place fabric on the floor with decorative side facing touching the ground ( & smooth wrinkles)

5) Put board and foam on top of fabric with foam touching fabric and back of the board facing you

6) Pull fabric tightly on all sides and use staple gun to secure fabric to back of the board- I like to start stapling opposite sides first. Do the corners last and fold them like a present.

7) Now the tricky part- the trim

This is where I got hung up, because I ran out of the nail heads I was using to secure the strips of nail head trim to the board. I could only find three matching boxes at Joanne's and then they were out of stock ~~forever~~ for over a month.

Finally they got them back in and I got Z to get the board back off the wall and could finally get to work. I do NOT usually have project hanging over my head (pun intended) for long periods of time. I'm type A all the way and like to get in and get'em done.

Here's what I started with today.

All I needed to do was secure two more sides to the outer row of trim and then the inner row. I found the easiest way to ensure the trim was straight was to set up my laser level to keep a straight line. I couldn't find any tips online to really straight trim and that lined fabric in NOT forgiving!
After getting the laser it really was a piece of cake!

{Say hello to Chew-Doggy!}

A few words to the wise-

-(1)- If you're an inpatient person or a little sloppy do NOT buy a striped fabric. You will hate you life- seriously!

-(2)-Secure the foam WELL especially if you're not using trim on the headboard. I could tell my adhesive was coming lose, but fortunately it wasn't a big deal since I was nailing it all down.

-(3)-Wear gloves that trim is SHARP- especially after you trim an edge.

I used a French Cleat I found at Lowe's to attach the headboard to the wall. This is the perfect device to get the job done because they can support a lot of weight and are so easy to install.
I purchased 1 large cleat with a 100 pound capacity. It comes in two pieces.

It's a piece of cake to install. Just screw the first half to the wall. I used a drill and a level to get it straight.

Then screw the second piece to the back of the headboard (or anything heavy you want to hang) again making sure it's level.

See how big the headboard is? Almost as large as the bed!

Anyhow, you should have something like this, 1/2 attached to each piece.

Grab someone to help you lift the headboard up above the cleat. See where the cleat juts out from the wall?
The cleat on the back of the headboard will slide right into this part on the wall.

Even though you could possibly save a couple of bucks hanging it a different way, I love this method. With it you can cheat the headboard a little to the left or right simply by sliding it!
We've moved the bed a little to the right and a little to the left and haven't had to rehang the headboard- which rocks!

And finally, the finished after!

A small piece of advice-Choose your measurements thoughtfully.When I chose the size of my MDF I decided to make a very large headboard. The H 60 x W 78 inches! The reason being, I wanted the headboard to show a little on each side of my king size mattress.

BUT ALSO- if I ever decide to use this in a guest bedroom with my QUEEN SIZE bed I can FLIP IT and USE IT SIDEWAYS. Pretty sweet, right? It will be the right width and look very dramatic as 6 1/2 foot tall headboard. Have you seen them- they look fantastic! I also left room and have supplies to finish the trim when I'm ready to change things up.