A Beautiful Reunion: Broken Chairs and The Mis-Matched Table

by Amy

8 Materials

$250

30 Hours

Medium

This was quite the sad sack of a kitchen chair situation. Sit back (pun intended) and let me show you why it is even worse than it appears here. The consigment store chairs are covered with standard pillow cases. Why? A picture speaks a thousand words. The table was purchased second-hand last year and did not match.

a beautiful reunion broken chairs and the mis matched table, dining room ideas, diy, painted furniture, reupholster, Hiding embarrassing chairs with pillowcases

Hiding embarrassing chairs with pillowcases.

Inspired by Monet's home in Giverny and his gallant and unabashed use of color, I went for it.

These chairs were purchased about 15 years ago and I loved the cool design they had on the back. But with a toddler, they didn't last long and the delicate particle board cutout just gave up. The table was purchased last year from a neighbor. They didn't match but half of my chair was covered by my "clever" cover-ups, standard pillowcases.

a beautiful reunion broken chairs and the mis matched table, dining room ideas, diy, painted furniture, reupholster, The chairs before Broken backs so sad

The chairs "before". Broken backs..so sad!

Here's how I started my kitchen furniture makeover. There were many firsts for me here but no time like now to take it on! This makeover was for the March Fab Furniture Flippin' Contest by Fairfield World who so generously provided the foam for this makeover!

a beautiful reunion broken chairs and the mis matched table, dining room ideas, diy, painted furniture, reupholster, Painting outside Three layers of color

Painting outside. Three layers of color.

1. Remove seat and carefully remove the bamboo edges around the chair back, front and back sides.

2. I painted the chair with milk paint in three coats (Lakeview Blue from The Real Milk Paint Company) and sealed with their low sheen burnishing paste and clear wax. Replace seat.

a beautiful reunion broken chairs and the mis matched table, dining room ideas, diy, painted furniture, reupholster, Staple underlying fabric around edges Trim

Staple underlying fabric around edges. Trim.

3. Cut foam to size for both front and back. I left the broken back in place. I would have had to take the chair apart to get it out, so I left it alone.The

4. Cut piece of fabric that acts as a barrier between the foam and the decorative fabric and staple into place around the edges.

5. Trim the fabric very close to the chair edges

a beautiful reunion broken chairs and the mis matched table, dining room ideas, diy, painted furniture, reupholster, Detail as I trim the decorative fabric

Detail as I trim the decorative fabric.

6. Repeat process with decorative fabric. I used a template because of the pattern and I wanted the image to be specific for the front and the back.

7. Trim the fabric close to the staples. After this point I used a brad nailer to nail the bamboo trim back into place.

Before and after. What a beautiful change!

Before and after...

a beautiful reunion broken chairs and the mis matched table, dining room ideas, diy, painted furniture, reupholster, Detail of the front and back of chairs

Detail of the front and back of chairs.

The chairs "after" showing the fabric variation and the gorgeous color of the paint. The foam used on the front and back of the chairs feels so comfortable. It's really hard to believe this is the same chair.

a beautiful reunion broken chairs and the mis matched table, dining room ideas, diy, painted furniture, reupholster, Detail of table legs after painting sealing

Detail of table legs after painting, sealing.

Detail of table legs after they were painted to match the chairs. Details were painted out using a color that I created mixing an acrylic paint in cadmium yellow and the blue milk paint.

a beautiful reunion broken chairs and the mis matched table, dining room ideas, diy, painted furniture, reupholster, My kitchen area after the makeover LOVE

My kitchen area "after" the makeover-LOVE!

The finished products. I couldn't be happier with the results! I hope you like them, too!

Enjoyed the project?

You can do it! Saved to your projects

Project Foam (www.fairfieldworld.com)
White underlying fabric (My own)
Decorative Fabric (Fabric Guru)
Milk Paint in Lakeview Blue/Low Sheen Burnishing Paste (The Real Milk Paint Company)
Pneumatic Stapler/Staples (Harbor Freight Tools)
Brad Nailer/Nails (Home Depot)
Electric Pneumatic Air Pump (Harbor Freight Tools)
Paint Brushes/Mason Jars (for mixing paint) (My own)

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3 of 5 questions

Michele Hengy-Young on Apr 10, 2016
Did you have to sand the table legs and chairs before using the milk paint?

3
169756 on Apr 10, 2016
I have to recover 2 end chair seats and a possiblly 2 bench pads and love this fabric. Do you have the name of it? I looked on Fabric Guru and didn't have a clue other than 'birds, tropical' to key in.

2
Jewellmartin on Apr 11, 2016
This entire setting is perfect. Is the painting or poster in the background an original? You choice of fabric is one of my favorite styles, but I have never used it to decorate. Super job!

2

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2 of 165 comments

Sara on Nov 29, 2016
GORGEOUS!

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Woo12810051 on Mar 06, 2017
what a beautiful work of art!!! I love your creative mind. thanks for sharing

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