The $5 Chair

I fell in love with the lines of this chair when I saw it at a charity store last month and knew I had to have it.  I loved how wide the seat was and how comfy the springs still were; despite it’s age.  I knew it needed a lot of work, but for FIVE DOLLARS, how could I pass it up?

When I began working on this chair, I had no idea what I would find under the weird layer of white, fluffy, polyester stuff and the hideous pink fabric…What I found was another layer of fabric but this layer was actually quite pretty.  This one though, was so old that the fibers literally fell apart when I began removing it.Under the pretty fabric was lots and lots of straw and excelsior.  Thankfully the chair had been inside at the charity shop for at least the past 7 months (I knew because of the date on the tag!) so I didn’t have to worry about any little critters coming out of it to visit me. 😊I stripped the chair down to just the frame and the springs and immediately disposed of the old insides.  I definitely wanted new filling in the chair before I began to re-upholster it.After stripping it all down I gave the frame a coat of Miss Mustard Seed’s Linen coloured Milk Paint® and then stapled a layer of drop cloth below the springs to act as a holder for the new filling.  I filled up the area below the springs with new polyester fill and eventually pushed it all down below the springs.Once the fill was all stuffed between the drop cloth and the springs, I added several layers of batting on top of the springs to add some comfort and stapled it under the frame.  I didn’t do anything to alter the springs at all.  It is hard to see in the pictures, but they are curved from front to back and are very comfy just as they are.I had already decided that I wanted to use drop cloth to re-upholster this chair and then add some grain sack type stripes.  I like the look of drop cloth and know that it is really thick and cheap so thought I’d give it a whirl.  I must note that I had a hard time though finding a colour that I liked.  Most of the drop cloths I found had a grey colour to them and I wanted one that was more natural and creamy.  I finally found one at Home Hardware. (in case you are looking for the creamy colour too!)