A First Attempt at Upholstering

by Michelle James

This was a fun and I was glad I participated. The theme for November was Take a Seat and it had to incorporate upholstery.
I usually sign up for this each month because it pushes me to try new things and this was definitely a first!

a first attempt at upholstering, painted furniture, reupholster

The sponsor was Minted and they were kind enough to supply us with some awesome fabrics. I chose two coordinating fabrics for my bench. Here is the before pic. It was a nice bench. It had some scratches but the cushion and the arms were in great shape. But it did not match anywhere in my house and I purchased it at the Truckload store just for this project. It was $47.

I was scared to death but jumped right in with removing the seat cushion and the arms completely so that they would be easier to work with. I set out removing all of the old fabric trying to keep it in most of it's original shape. It seemed like it took forever to get the fabric off.

I used the old pieces of fabric to cut out the new pieces.

I painted the wooden parts white. I started with chalk paint but could tell right away that the stain was going to bleed through. So I ended up using a spray paint/primer combo in white. It worked nicely!

I also created some piping from the bench cushion fabric to give the arms a little detail . It did have piping before but all of the same fabric. I like the way this stands out.

The front part of the arms were done in the smaller pattern with the white background but I made the back side of the arms the green fabric like the bench and the piping.

Here are some more photos of the finished product!

What do you think for my first time? There are some areas that don't look so great but all in all I was happy with the final product!

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Frequently asked questions

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3 of 5 questions

Susan Baez Randleman on Jun 22, 2016
Did the upholstery part take sewing? Was the piping sewed on? Or is everything just stapled in?

1
Betty on Jun 24, 2016
Awesome transformation! Did you use a hot glue gun on this project too?

1
Jackie Byrd on Jul 27, 2016
What are the 3 black spots on the lip on each end? They almost look like half of a snap of some sort.

1

Comments

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4 of 57 comments

Goatfriend on Sep 17, 2017

Fabulous! I would purchase this if seen in a store.

2 Reply
- Michelle James on Sep 17, 2017
  Thank you! I still love it.
  
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Diane on Jul 31, 2019

I've always been hesitant to take on an upholstery project, but after seeing your project, I have been inspired. I'm gonna go for it. Thanks!

2 Reply
- Michelle James on Jul 31, 2019
  
  Thank you. You can do it!!!
  
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