Table and Chair Nightmare...

Misty Gaines-Johnson
by Misty Gaines-Johnson
3 Materials
$20
1 Week
Medium
I have tons of mismatched tables and chairs. I had a client that wanted plain colors and a round table. She put the rest in my hands. So I picked out a simple round oak table and some fancier chairs that had definitely seen better days. The chairs were the most work. There were so many upholstery staples it took me days to get them removed. After that I sanded some rough spots on the chairs and cleaned them up with TSP. I painted them a bright white, chalk paint(I make my own) which I never do because I feel it has a blue hue to it, but the direction of the piece made it work well. I did 4 coats of paint and sealed with water based varathane. Now when you coat white or light paint with varathane or even wax it changes the color of the white until it dries. Now the fun part, upholstering the chair backs were a nightmare. I used a 12x9 foot painters canvas for the material. I washed and dried and iron it. Then I traced my pattern for the backs. After I cut out the patterns I put modgpodge on the edges of the fabric, this is a great fix to stop fraying, there was enough canvas to do all the chairs and it only cost me $9.98 for it. Next I had to find a border to hide the staples. OMG trim is expensive! So I used one roll of clothesline rope. $2.99 and it did all the chairs. I just twisted it to give it a design. Went perfect with the material and chairs. The table was easy. I painted the bottom the same white as the chairs and I sanded the top of the table and used whitewash stain. My client was absolutely in love with it!
Chairs before. Thank goodness all the foam was still in good shape. I have washed foam and air dried before to save on cost. Works great on gentle cycle and air dry.
Table before. You have to watch sanding a lot of tables because they only have a very thin layer of wood on it. This table was like that. Just have a light hand when dealing with this type of table.
This is what I used to white wash the table top
No trim applied yet
Trim...clothesline rope twisted and hot glued on
Modgepodging the edges to keep the edges from fraying when I staple.
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  • Paula Swartzlander Paula Swartzlander on Oct 16, 2017

    I have a question myself how did you get all that material and all that back into the chair I have the same chairs and I'm having a terrible time

  • Mary R Edwards Mary R Edwards on Apr 15, 2018

    Is the tabletop heat resistant and waterproof now? Can you set a glass on it? I want to do the same thing to a table

  • Carrole Franklin Shaw Carrole Franklin Shaw on Nov 17, 2018

    This is great I Love it .......I Have a 14 seater with similar chairs love the idea of the rope & glue to finish off the edges do you think i could use Calico ? What did you use exactly ? did you say painter canvas ? what grade was it i have some but way too stiff to cover chairs . Thank you Carrole


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