The Cover Up (Guest Bedroom Makeover PART 3)

Charlee Hunter
by Charlee Hunter
11 Materials
$30
3 Hours
Medium

I Love this chair, I always have. It's been a fixture in the household my entire life. My mother inherited it from her Aunt , and I in turn got it from my mother (not exactly true.. my Mom asked if I could recover it and I said yes, as long as it came to live with me. LOL It was at my mother's old house where my brother currently resides, and he was not doing the old man any favors!). Since my mother lives with me, she was ok with that : )


My mother estimates that this chair is most likely about a hundred years old... yes, 100 years.. It is a wonderfully made, timeless piece. The stain on the arms has completely worn off with age, but that does nothing to diminish it's charm. The chair itself is surprisingly not very heavy, but the cushions!! Good lord did they stuff them with lead weights! Actually the cushions are at least partially stuffed with HORSE HAIR! I think that is so cool. I only know this because the original material is very worn and you can see the stuffing in a few areas.


This project is a simple one, I did nothing to the chair except give it a good scrubbing and oiled it with Hemp oil. I recovered the cushions (..again, this is the third time for this bad boy) to match my redone guest room. (NOTE: I did not touch the original material, it is still there hidden under my first recover which were complete covers with zippers. I did not want to ruin the integrity of the original cushion).


*NOTE the entire room reveal is now posted here: http://www.hometalk.com/diy/bedroom/be-my-guest-gat-long-last-i-am-done-ok-justuest-bedroom-reveal-29031132

Giving the old guy's bones a good scrub down! In this picture you can see the original material. It is a pinkish tan with a black/grey design running through it. The cream colored patch must have been done by my Great Aunt because we have done nothing to the base since we have owned it (my Mother and I).


*Note: So apparently this is not a 'patch' after all. Back when he was made, it was common practice to only use the 'expensive' material where it would possibly be 'seen'.  Good to know! Thanks Jayne!

Here I am making a make shift pattern out of newspaper (yeah , I got style! lol and I'm cheap sometimes!) The covers shown here are the original covers that I made for the cushions (this is the bottom of the cushion and is faux suede). I traced around the cushion with a marker, then took the cushion off and added 1/2 inch for margin. Then folded that in half and cut it out.

Here is what it looked like. I then repeated the process with the top cushion.

The two tops of the cushion covers cut out and tape lined up to paint stripes. For this I used a custom color I made (same one I used for my stool here: http://www.hometalk.com/diy/living-room/furniture/fantasy-footstool-little-tyke-stool-makeover-28596625).

Stripes are painted! I will say that while painting on material , I've found it best if the paint is slightly thinned, especially if you are using chalk paint (which I was).

And here are my lovely stripes!! (can I just tell you again how much I LOVE Frog tape? Just look at those clean lines!). They are on the cushions because I am checking fit. (you'd think I may have wanted to do that BEFORE I put the stripes on ! haha thank goodness I trace well and it all worked out).

Added the cute 'grain sack' stencil . This was actually a part of three different stencils. I did these in Fushion paint Charbon. This is the truest black chalk paint I have found.

Pinning the cushion together and getting ready to sew. The sides were done in two sections, sewn together, then pinned to the top part.

Putting in the elastic. Since these are just covers, no need for a bottom piece.

One cushion done!!! Now on to the next....

(in the background you can now see the top of the original covers. A kind of modern pattern in browns and black. I still love that material, but it no longer goes with anything in my house :) By the way, these covers were also made out of the drop cloth that I made my kitchen curtain with.

Here he is!! He's rockin and lovin the grain sack look! And you will noticed that my walls are now grey : ) It took all day, but now it's done.. full room reveal soon!


The pillow is one that I made out of my "test" pattern on drop cloth material, for my kitchen curtain (which you can see here: http://www.hometalk.com/diy/living-room/curtains/drab-drop-cloth-seeks-dramatic-makeover-28164095 , this is one of my most viewed and saved projects to date)

Another view *sigh* Did I tell you that I love this chair? icon

Added this picture to show him 'naked' lol A lot of people requested to see the finished product without embellishment : ) Here ya go!

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  • Cherie Cherie on Aug 01, 2019

    What did your mom say?? Did she LOVE it????😍

  • Kathie Kathie on Aug 01, 2019

    I had a VERY hard time figuring out your directions due to the busy tablecloth!

  • Jan51308511 Jan51308511 on Feb 28, 2022

    What was the elastic used for?

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  • Lizb1990 Lizb1990 on Feb 28, 2022

    This is awesome, I love what you’ve done! I have a similarly shaped chair, kind of a plantation chair with the arms that have a hinge that make it wider, if that make sense. It’s an old chair that I picked up in an antique store, but we had one like it growing up that came from Puerto Rico. The cushions need to be recovered, and seeing this has given me the courage to do it myself! Thanks for sharing your project! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

  • Jody Price Jody Price on Feb 24, 2023

    I LOVE YOUR CHAIR!!!! Absolutely Gorgeous!!! The cover is such a smart fix! If you ever decide to sell it, pick me!❤️😂

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