photo courtesy of Glam It Up Photography
The Chairs for Charity auction was a great success with my chair going to
Jen from Brick & Mortar.
The live auction chairs made approx. $1400 for the Langley Christmas Bureau,
I dont know the numbers for the rest of the chairs that were up for silent auction.
Thank you to everyone who participated, donated, and came out for the evening.
But its time to get to the nitty gritty ...
The ins and out ..... all my little secrets how you can create your own jack chair
***WARNING***
First of all let me say I have no formal training in upholstery,
I have always been too impatient to wait for someone to help me when I want to get a job accomplished.
I also like knowing how things work, thus why I use to take things apart as a child, like music boxes and flashlights.
I would tinker away for hours figuring out how each little part effected the next.
Its the exact same thing today, if I dont understand how something goes together
I take something similar apart and learn how to recreate it.
I was fortunate enough purchase this chair already stripped,
Ive said it many times in the past "the worst part of reupholstering is removing the old stuff"
I started by stapling painters drop cloth over the springs and seat frame.
Next I hauled my roll of inch thick foam in to start cutting.
I ended up using 2 layers of foam for the seat.
Get your butt in the chair and test how it feels, as goldilocks would say
"thats just right"
One tip I have to offer here is to turn the square edge of the foam down while stapling.
this helps eliminate the corners being seen after the fabric goes on.
After the foam is secured into place sheets of batten were wrapped over the foam,
this again softens the edges and disguises the staple indents.
I did not staple the batten as it stays in place on its own.
You can use scissors to cut your batten but tearing it helps thin the edges better.
Now it was just a matter of cutting and stapling my material over the seat and backrest,
cutting to fit where necessary.
Im not an expert at fitting around the arms but I do my best.
The piece for the very back of the chair was cut 1 inch larger and in the shape of the back
then carefully secured into place with my trusty hammer and nail head trim.
I talk about the paint finish used on the frame here:
http://blogspot.ca/2012/10/silver-chair-how-to.html
and the Union Jack upholstery was done the same as these chairs:
http://blogspot.ca/2011/10/captain-and-his-soldiers-pt2-union-jack.html.
photo courtesy of Glam It Up Photography
PLease let me know if you try making your own UNION JACK CHAIRS!?
I did it ....
I painted a whole chair from the frame to the upholstery.
Everybody else is doing it why not me.
Okay seriously I have painted fabric before but just not to this scale.
I also had not found the right piece to do it with.
I purchased the chair at a second hand store and it was solid and the upholstery was all intact,
however the seat fabric had large water marks on it.
So a painting I went ...
I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Colors,
FRENCH LINEN on the frame and OLD WHITE on the fabric and trim.
The fabric did need 3 coats with a brush because it is porous but its super smooth now like leather.
This fabric was very heavy weight tapestry fabric and took the paint better than any I have worked
with in the past. Velvet sucks the paint in like crazy I dont advise painting it unless you like
spending money. Drop cloth is rough when you paint it but you can sand it smooth.
I learned this time around to paint the upholstery first before the frame.
Do as I say not as I do!
The wood frame has straighter edges than the fabric making it easier to paint the frame last.
And YES I waxed it once it dried! Same procedure, apply wax, remove excess, then buff.
I am very excited about the possibilities in the future, however I dont think I would
want to paint a piece that you might want to lay on such as a sofa or love seat.
I think this is best saved for occasional chairs and dining chairs.
UPDATE: she was used for several months as a demo for painting fabric then sold.
She is completely washable and if need be re-paintable in the future.
