I've waited forever to paint and reupholster these dining room chairs!!! The original fabric was in perfect shape....and it wasn't even ugly.....I just didn't care for the colors.
I've had this leopard fabric and teal velvet for over a year.....just sitting on a shelf waiting for Matt to agree to help me (which really means "do it").
So finally.....he just randomly asked me if I had a project he could work on.
So AFTER I picked myself up off the floor at his offering (oh he helps....but it usually takes me begging).....I ran and grabbed the fabric.
He removed the seats from the chairs which were screwed in....and that was super easy. However, the fabric on the top of the chairs was glued in place. So we left it!
Prep: cleaning and painting
We cleaned the chairs well with Dixie Belle's White Lightning to remove all dirt and built-up furniture polish residue. We rinsed with plain water....and began to paint.
It didn't take us long at all to get two full coats of Caviar (my favorite black) on the four chairs. There are two armchairs that we didn't do at this time as we will be using a different fabric that I haven't purchased yet.
The base of the table is painted in Caviar as well....which is why I chose black. These chairs are the last item in the dining room to go from black to brown....see the transition of the rest of the dining room here.
And let me just say...I promise I helped.....but I also took the photos....so there are none of me working!
We then sealed the painted chairs in two coats of Gator Hide.....which is Dixie Belle's most durable topcoat. I prefer to use this on pieces that will get a lot of use....and this table and chair set does!
The painting of the chairs was such an easy and fast project! Just think of the possibilities and fun you could have just by changing the colors of your chairs....with paint!
Reupholster the dining room chairs...in leopard print!
So now on to the upholstery portion of the blog.....this is where it gets interesting.....as this is NOT something we normally do!
Matt cut leopard fabric for the four seat-cushions. He then strategically wrapped and tucked and smoothed corners and secured the fabric well with a staple gun.
Seat cushions....done!
The seat backs....not so easy.
He made a pattern by tracing both the front and the back cushion onto tissue paper and used that as a pattern. He cut the fronts out of the leopard fabric and the backs out of the teal velvet.
We received a tip from one of our Facebook friends to spray the fabric (both existing and new) with fabric adhesive. What a game-changer that was! We were able to get a nice and smooth stretch that adhered beautifully with the adhesive. We then stapled fabric into place with a compressed air nail gun....which made us look and sound very professional!
We had to wait a week or more for our upholstery trim to arrive...which was supposed to be black. Instead.....they sent gold.....and what the heck...the chairs are already so gaudy....we just went for it!
And we actually really like it!
And I LOVE the surprise pop of teal on the back of the chairs. Teal and a bold pink are the accent colors throughout my house.....and FINALLY my dining room has joined the party!
We are so pleased with how this finished project looks.....but even more pleased at how easy it was to do! Click HERE to see what the dining room looked like BEFORE this transformation. And be sure to get a closer look at the faux wood grain table.
If you've considered painting your table and reupholstering the dining room chairs....I'm here to tell you to go for it!
Other DIY home project inspiration
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See you next week!
XOXO,
Tracey
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