My New Favourite Chair

Before we took off to visit family over the Christmas break, I acquired a new hobby... Reupholstering! And I have to say, even though I also acquired bruises, blisters and lacerations, I LOVE that I was able to take this old piece of junk chair and turn it into a masterpiece! Well, maybe not a MASTERpiece, but at least a piece that's not total crap. I had to make an initial purchase to get all the supplies I needed to undertake an upholstery job, but other than that, I was able to remake this rocking chair for fairly cheap. I paid about $35 for the fabric (I brought 7 meters, which was WAY too much, but now I have extra to make drapes! Yay!) because it was on sale and then I talked down the lady at the mennonite thrift store and only paid 10 bucks for the chair. Pretty sweet deal if I do say so myself. That being said, it was not easy, and definitely proved to be a huge learning experience, especially since I had absolutely NO IDEA what I was doing. And I think I killed my sewing machine. The upholstery fabric and nylon thread was just a little too much for my little $90 Singer to handle. And next time (there WILL be a next time, I've already bought the fabric for another chair) I don't think I'll be using a hand staple gun. No thank you. Using an all-purpose staple gun to staple into a hard wood like birch when you have to pull the trigger 1000 times or more and THEN hammer in the staples because your gun was too wussy, is NOT something I'd ever recommend to anyone. Not ever. Jay documented my slow spiral into lunacy with photos (the deconstruction was by far the hardest and longest and worst part, kind of like being in labor to give birth... but the end result is just so satisfying! haha). Anyway, enough talk. Here's the beaut before I tore it apart:

Some lovely tack that I ended up reusing because it was the only thing that was tough enough to put back in. They just don't make things like they used to.

My little helper. Everyday Jacob loved to sit on the chair and watch a show while I pulled out staples.

I worked on this beast day and night, and sadly yes, neglected my children a tad. But Jacob loves his chair! and I'm not just saying that to make myself feel better about the neglect. Ok, maybe I am...

Almost done deconstructing.

Reconstruction begun.

WALAH! COMPLETE! Don't you love it?? I sure do!