Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Studio chair rehabilitation

Cute and comfortable at last!
The chair in my studio needed some help, a facelift if you will.
We just had a electronic recycling day in our town. I finally sent the kids' high school computer off to meet its ultimate destiny. It served us well, considering it was made the year my youngest started Grade 1. The monitor alone looked like a refugee from a 1980s teen movie.
Once the ancient technology was carted away, I took a hard look at the chair that used to be perched before that GIANT monitor.
The ugly, scratchy upholstery "fabric" (which was more like polyester tweed) was ripped and the foam beneath was threatening to take flight.
Googling "how to cover an office chair" yielded a surprising number of results. I was looking for LOTS of photos, so I ended up using the instructions found on Joyful Abode.
I found this nice print at Fabricland for $3/meter.
Armed with a staple gun and a number of  screw drivers, I went to work on the chair.
Basically, I used the chair seat and back as patterns, with a generous amount added all around to accommodate the foam and hard plastic seat foundation. I sewed a channel all around the fabric. Then, I threaded some rat tail cord through the channels, pulled it tight until it encased the foam and the seat foundation, adjusted the gathers all around, tied a serious knot and then stapled the whole thing to the seat. Doing the seat back was a bit more challenging, involving the careful removal of plastic rivets. By some miracle, they did not break and also went back together again.
I like the way it turned out -- and more importantly, it is nicer to sit on than plastic tweed that is leaking foam. Well, just about anything would be nicer to sit on than plastic tweed that is leaking foam.
My point is I conquered the office chair. Now, if only I can organize the desk to make it a better workspace for my paper crafting adventures.

3 comments:

  1. Great job! And you make it sound so easy :)

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  2. Oh, what a great idea. I've recovered dining room chairs, and a couple of others - might get brave enough to tackle our office chairs! Maybe add a little padding where we've squished them with our big butts!

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  3. wow, well done you! It looks fantastic! I could do with reupholstering mine, it's pretty gross. Fancy coming round to do it?

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