From Boring to Swanky! :: Dining Room Chairs Update

It's feast or famine around here folks.. I think you probably are used to it though, right?  I have so many things I want to write about, tell about, shout about! But the reality is that my life gets in the way sometimes.. ANYway.. I have good stuff to share!

I bought these chairs from the company where I work - they did a big re-decorating thing a couple of years ago and they sold them to me for $5 each.  (You really never know where you'll find your next bargain!) They have been living in my pink dining room..

They reminded me of my red dining room chairs so I thought they would be great companions!  I shared on Instagram about finally starting to work on these dining room chairs back here... then, in late March we painted them. Of course I had to take them apart in the yard... with my Shaw Carpets tool swag from HAVEN Conference!

I roughed them up a bit with some steel wool pads, wiped them down real good, then Hubby primed them with Kilz, then painted them with Rustoleum's Heirloom White.

I went back and forth about painting them a bright white or a more creamy white.. in the end I went with the slightly creamer version of the Heirloom White because it matched the fabric to a T.
 

 Primed

Primed on the left, painted on the right

In the picture above the creamy white looks a little yellow-y, but it doesn't read that way in the house.

The fabric is Premier Prints Towers Onyx Natural from Online Fabric Store.  Last year I attended the HAVEN Conference for DIY Bloggers and Online Fabrics Store was a sponsor.  They gifted a yard of fabric and a yard of burlap to EACH attendee!  So generous!  And I'm finally using my gift on my chair seats :)  I just covered right over the old fabric using my hand-held staple gun.

 Old original fabric

When you're covering right over old fabric it is really the easiest thing - the hard part is getting the corners tight.  A friend taught me how to get a nice tight corner.  When you are stapling along the straight edges, staple right up to the corner on either side... (ugh, man hands!!)

Then, gather all of your fabric (and I leave a lot of fabric because you can always cut the excess off later) that is in between those last two staples on either side and pull it tight...

Then I put in three or four (or more if needed) staples over the folds in the material...

When you're finished the corners should be smooth with very little wrinkles.  I didn't like the way one of them looked, so I pulled the staples out and did it again!

I had plenty of fabric and I am seriously in LOVE with how they turned out!  Along with the chairs being finished, I also added a $10 faux sheep skin rug to my piano bench.  I love the warmth it adds to the room, along with that little touch of glamor. 

I am so happy that i finally got these guys finished!  I am looking for some cute red pillows for them, but not having luck finding exactly what I want.  I'm probably going to do some fabric shopping over at Online Fabric Store and just make them myself - that's always more fun anyway :)

One last before and after ~~~

I'm totally in love!  From boring to swanky! Have you ever painted chairs before? Or recovered chair seats?  Do you have special techniques that are tried and true?  Do tell!

Linking up with Thrifty Decor Chic! You have got to check out the great before & afters! And also over at All Things Heart & Home's Twirl & Take a Bow - :)

Love,
Kelli