My 3 Monsters: {31 Days to a Brand New Room}Days 27 & 28: Chair and Ottoman Makeover

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11.05.2012

{31 Days to a Brand New Room}
Days 27 & 28: Chair and Ottoman Makeover

If you're joining us for the first time today, welcome!  This brings us through day 28 of a 31-day series about how to give a room in your home a brand new look, from top to bottom, completely DIY.  


So . . . I didn't realize how far behind I had fallen in my day-to-day life and my day or two of break from decorating turned into a week, but I am finally back with the next installment of our room makeover series.  Today we're going to talk a little bit about slipcovering furniture.  I knew I wanted to put a nice, comfortable chair in this room for Sydney to read in or hang out with her friends.  Here's the chair I would have loved to have gotten for her:

The Cute-as-a-Button Erin Chair from World Market.  I love those little decorative buttons, but the price was just too high for my cheap-o room redo.  I found a wingback chair on Craig's list for $20 that I knew would be great with a little love and a whole lotta' white canvas so that's what we went with.  You've seen it lurking in some of the other pictures of the room so far:

We found that ottoman at Goodwill for $5.  It's way too big for the scale of the chair, but Sydney loved it because it is comfortable to sit on {which is probably how it will be used most often by her and her friends} so we got it.  The important thing is that the room works for her, right?

My original plan was to bleach an old canvas painter's drop cloth we had used for curtains in our boys' room and use that to slipcover the chair and ottoman, but the color just wasn't right.  When you bleach a painter's drop cloth {which is a long process, I learned} it doesn't get white . . . it's more of a creamy grayish whitish tan color, which is great for lots of things.  I had my heart set on a crisp white slipcover for this room so I had to come up with a plan B. 
 
Luckily, I found a great store here in my area called Home Fabrics where they carry a multitude of gorgeous home decor fabrics for less than $10 per yard -- most of them significantly less, like $3-$5 per yard.    I found some perfect, really heavy white canvas there for $5/yard {hallelujah!} and bought 7 yards to slipcover my chair and ottoman.  I ended up using EVERY SINGLE SCRAP of that seven yards -- how's that for cutting it close?  Apartment therapy has this handy guide to help you estimate how much fabric you will need to recover various types of furniture.  It's very similar to the one I was given in my interior design classes in college and it is EXTREMELY helpful.  I don't know why I was thinking 5 yards for my chair and 2 yards for my ottoman.  If I had consulted the guide I wouldn't have been stressing so much about running out of fabric towards the end of my project.  It all ended well, anyway.

I'm not going to try and talk you through sewing a slipcover step-by-step, only because I found this AMAZING video series from Miss Mustard Seed that shows you exactly how to do it, from start to finish.  Remember how I told you Miss Mustard Seed was one of my decorating idols?  Well, yep.  She doesn't disappoint on this topic either.  I have sewn slipcovers before, but I just kind-of taught myself how to do it.  I learned so much from watching her expert process and getting her little tips and tricks along the way.  I highly recommend her {completely FREE!} video series if you're thinking about slipcovering anything.

Now, keeping in mind that I am me and not Miss Mustard Seed, I am thrilled with the way these slipcovers turned out.  {The pictures of the slipcovers not so much -- it's really hard to photograph a navy blue room with one tiny north-facing window.}

My drab old chair is fresh and clean and bright looking now that it's finished.  I debated about what to do with the legs of the chair -- leave them the dark wood tone they were originally or paint them white.  In a stroke of genius I decided to spray paint them bright pink to match the side table in the room.  I LOVE that little funky pop of color on what would have just been a plain old chair. 

All the piping detail around the edges is a pain in the booty to do, but it gives the finished slipcover a really professional, expensive looking touch.  Expensive-looking, but cheap-costing is my favorite style of anything.

The gigantic ottoman was done exactly the same way as the chair -- by cutting the pieces to an approximate size and pin fitting them for a snug, custom look.  It looks so much more massive now that it's white . . . 

Sydney loves it.  I just have to keep reminding myself, Sydney loves it.  It's fine that it dwarfs the wing back chair.  It's fine. 
 
Here's one more {very bad} picture {taken with a flash} just to show you how the chair fits in the context of the room:

I really am so pleased with the way it came together and how beautifully it works in the space.  Just one more big project -- the DIY framed floor mirror -- and this room will be done!  Thanks for checking in again.  Have a great day!!

2 comments:

  1. The slipcovers turned out amazing. Love the pink legs. So glad you allowed yourself a break. You did more in that month than I did all year! Excited to see the room reveal!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I kinda' want to kidnap that chair and put it in my room.

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