Reupholster a Recliner: DONE!

This might be a record for how quickly I completed a project. Less than one month after sending Jake out to pick up a $20 recliner off of the swap site I am proud to say “it’s done”!

Here’s a look at how our room looked this morning (I didn’t even clean up for pictures or ask Noah to stand still):

Noah loves carrying around bags now like his mom.

This chair is another DIY project.

Noah was busy loading up his baby-purse with board game pieces… Jake finished getting ready and then the boys went grocery shopping so I could use the staple gun without worrying about a toddler running around me. The legs on this chair have to be reattached about halfway through stapling the sides back on (the screws that hold them in place are hidden inside the sides of the chair). I got to the point where I was ready to attach the legs and after several failed attempts realized that I needed Jake’s help.

Once the boys were home I set up Noah with Daniel Tiger (a friend recently recommended it to us) and we had 26 minutes of uninterrupted work time to get the legs reattached. I really am one of those parents who doesn’t let my kid watch TV – I’ve found it works for us because then in those few occasions each month that I need him to stay on the couch, the TV completely holds his attention. Once there’s another kid in the picture I am positive this rule will change but for right now the only regular TV Noah gets is Pandora. So back to the legs, they were much more difficult to put back on, even with two people. After several choice words and lots of pushing, pulling, banging, we got the legs to line up with the screw holes and I was able to complete the side stapling.

Jake reattached the back cushion for me and then we moved it into place. Initially we thought something was wrong because we couldn’t get it to fully close but I realized that you just have to close it from a seated position so that the front and back close at the same time. This is why some of the pictures show the bottom cushion poking out a bit.

And just to remind you of what we started with:

 Total cost for this project:

• Original chair (off of the swap site): $20
• Fabric from Fabric Basement: $88
• Tack strip: $5
• Staple gun, already owned: $0
• Staples: $6
• Polyshades, Tudor Satin: $8
• Brushes: $1.50
• Upholstery thread: $4
• TOTAL COST: $132.50 

While this chair wasn’t cheap, it was a lot less than the $1000 La-Z-Boy is asking for a new one! And I have lots of left over materials for future upholstery projects: I have 2 yards of material, enough tack strip & staples for my next 10 projects, and left over stain.

Already on the look-out for my next upholstery project….

Reupholster a Recliner: Day 7 and Why You Should Buy a Serger

While I have been working for over a week on this chair, I’ve only spent 7 days where I made progress on this project.

Here are the previous 6 work days:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4 & 5
• Day 6

Today I tackled the next big sewing project: the back cushion. This is a challenge because it has piping, extra flaps that attach to a wood frame, and no zipper (so it’s harder to put the cushion back on).

I followed all of the pictures on my cell phone to put the cushion back together and it slowly started to take shape. After everything was put together I serged the inside seams. This past year I invested in a Brother Serger — and it’s amazing. It makes all of my projects look more professional, finished, and provides additional support to make them last. But here’s the biggest reason you should get a serger; in 5 minutes you can turn this:

into this:

 

All of those messy edges are cut and sewn together using an overlock stitch. It prevents fraying and just looks nicer (I know that no one will actually see my inside seams but I know what they look like).

So now the back cushion is complete and ready to be stapled to the frame!

Reupholster a Recliner: Day 6

After spending some time cutting out my fabric pieces, I started the first sewing piece of this project: the seat cushion. I thought this would be a good place to start because it has a couple difficult features (zipper and piping) but it’s small enough to accomplish in one day — or one nap.

I followed the pictures I took when I took the cushion apart and pieced everything back together in reverse order. Once the zipper and fabric portion that wraps all the way around the cushion was complete, it was time to add the piping. Instead of making piping, I followed the manufacturer’s method and sewed it into the end *I am in love with my zipper foot* and then folded it back to give it that polished look. Here’s how it looked when I was putting the piping in:

 

Once the piping in, it was time to add the top and bottom of the cushion (the biggest pieces of fabric). I also serged the edges on the inside so that it neater and will prevent fraying. Once it was complete I put it over the cushion with fingers-crossed and ta-da!! It fits!

 

Next up is the back seat cushion, followed by the two arms!

Reupholster a Recliner: Day 3

Check out day 1 and day 2 of this project.

While waiting for my new staple remover I decided to attack the portions of the recliner that were sewn together. The two main cushions of the chair, the seat and the back, are completely sewn and include piping.

If you are throwing out the old upholstery fabric just write directly on it with a sharpie to help you keep track of how it goes back together (I label with both location and number). It’s very important to take lots of pictures here so that you sew things back together the exact same way; seam allowance, hemming, darts, corners, etc. Use a drop cloth to catch all the bits of thread and dust that will fall off of the old slipcover, it will save you a lot of vacuuming time later.

Since the piping is in good shape and already the exact length I needed, I’m going to reuse it with the new cover. The velcro on the other hand is kind of gross and it’s tan so I’ll be buying new velcro for the back.

Slipcover removal pictures:

 

And this is why you should use a sheet or a drop cloth:

Reupholster a Recliner: Day 2

Here’s my first day of staple removal.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the number one gripe on upholstery tutorials is the staples. STAPLES! I am so over staples … and even after two days I’m still not done. Last night I broke down and ordered a staple removal tool. Not only does my hand hurt from using a flat head screw driver but a number of the staples were done really well (so well I have cursed at them when they stay in the chair).

Here’s the tool I purchased off of Amazon: Crain 126 Staple Remover. We have Prime so it will be here tomorrow!

So … while I sit and pick apart the cushion covers, here’s a nice array of pictures from staple removal (day 2) of this project. It is impossible to take too many pictures on a project like this, each picture captures a different angle or detail that will be helpful when putting everything back together.

A couple notes on reupholstering this specific recliner so far:

1. The legs are easy to remove (and must be removed in order to take off the upholstery).
2. There is a lot more sewing involved in this recliner than other’s I have seen (sewing seat and back cushions, and then each arm is made up of 3 pieces).

Pictures from Day 2 (more staple removal):

Reupholster a Recliner: Day 1

Last night I worked on the chair for about an hour and then did another hour this afternoon while Noah was taking his nap. Being pregnant, I can really only squat/bend for short periods of time before I get really achy so I think this is going to be a LONG project!

Somehow I still haven’t removed a piece of fabric from this chair yet … but I have removed about 200 staples! The arms appear to be sew together and then stapled on over foam. The current foam on the chair arm isn’t in terrible condition but I think I’m going to replace everything just to really give it that new feeling! One nice thing about this recliner, the arms come off completely so it makes my idea of staining the arms a darker color more realistic (don’t have to worry about getting stain on the fabric).

Here’s my first batch of pictures from this adventure!

 

And I’ve got my first upholstery injury. Needle-nose pliers and flat-head screw drivers can be really painful if you slip while using them to remove a staple!

 

Hopefully I can get another hour of work done tonight and remove the fabric from one side of the base.

 

 

Another project?

Even though I’ve just barely started on Noah’s play kitchen (right now it is primed), I’ve decided to start my first big upholstery project while I’m 23 weeks pregnant. Maybe being pregnant will give me the motivation to finish this project or maybe it will make me fall apart when something goes wrong … we’ll see.

I bought this chair for $20; it is falling apart and desperately needs new fabric. It’s a well worn La-Z-Boy recliner (new model found here).

The reclining part of the recliner is in the worst shape (but probably the easiest part of the upholstery job) I’ll need to replace the foam here as well.

While Googling how to do this project on my own, the best part of any post seemed to be what they found in the recliner … and I feel like my find is pretty amazing!! Cingular hasn’t been around since 2007!

 

My plan:

• Remove the back from the chair (need Jake’s help since it’s mechanically attached)
• Take apart the entire chair following this tutorial – I estimate that I need between 4 and 5 yards of fabric so I’m going to go with 6 just to be on the safe side
• Recover with fabric — Joann’s is having a sale this week. I’m thinking a solid textured fabric to go with our striped rug and the other color things in our living room
• Possibly sand and stain the wood a mahogany color

ZIPPERS!

Something that I inherited for my mom is a love of bags — any bag — all bags. Neither of us can have enough purses, reusable grocery bags, drawstring bags, tote bags, corporate bags (the kind you get at conferences), and zippered pouches. My preferences tend to run on the pricier side of things like this Tory Burch tote but I also like making my own small accessories. I can only assume that an additional baby is going to add at least twice as much to my diaper bag and I need some bags in the bag to help me stay organized.

I ordered a 50 pack of zippers off of Amazon (think of all the bags!!!!!!). They accidentally sent me the multicolor pack so they are sending me the correct pack and letting me keep the others (100 zippers!!! I’ll be drowning in pouches).

This afternoon I started on my pouch making adventure – and I feel like I should go out and buy Katie No-Pocket to read to Noah. Anyone remember this book? It’s probably where my addiction started.

 

I’ve decided to do various sizes of pouches for my purse: diapers, change of cloths, snack, toys, and toiletries. The most exciting (and terrifying) moment when you are making a lined zipper pouch is when you turn it right side out. There’s a moment of panic where I think I didn’t something wrong and then all of a sudden it’s perfect! Here’s the one I made today:

The whale fabric is a remnant from Joann’s and the darker blue fabric is actually from my mom’s boss (she gave me a TON of quilting fabric that belonged to her mother). It’s the perfect fit for two diapers — one for Noah and one for baby brother. I’m going to have two “diaper changing” bags in my purse so I don’t have to open two different bags when I change their diapers. If I had been super smart I would have made these wet bags so that the dirty diapers can replace the clean ones.

 

Repairing a repair in a pair of Jeans

I have owned lots of nice pairs of jeans over the years: Lucky, Joe’s, Seven, COH, AG…and none of them were purchased new. For some reason I always manage to find nice jeans at the thrift store for only a few bucks. The downside is that these jeans are always in best shape but I’m willing to deal with it to save $100 or more. My most recent jean purchase was a pair of Seven maternity jeans (yes, they make those) and they are by far the most comfortable pants I have ever worn. Last fall I found a pair of COH jeans during a bag sale so they probably cost about $.67 with all of the other goodies I tossed in the bag. These jeans have seen a lot; the hem had been modified to make it shorter and a large tear in the back had been professionally repaired. Back at Christmas I wore the jeans and while bending over ripped the same spot again and the jeans have been sitting in my sewing project pile ever since. I haven’t been able to do too many large sewing projects so I figured I could make this a 5-minute project after Noah went to bed. I only reopened a small part of the original hole but I wanted to reinforce the entire thing so that it wouldn’t happen again! Yes, I keep scrap denim….I think these are from an old pair of Jake’s work pants. Next up I cut and sergered my patch of denim. It’s not important that it’s a different wash since so little of the fabric would peak through but I wouldn’t want to use a brightly colored fabric. It’s kind of difficult to see in this shot but instead of using my sewing machine to attach this patch (I don’t want any additional thread showing on the outside) I used stitch witchery instead.   Pressed the two pieces together and jeans are done!!   Really….5 minutes. Why didn’t I do this 6 months ago? (The other motivation for fixing these jeans is that they are one of my looser fitting jeans so my pregnant hips/butt/thighs will appreciate the breathing room.)

Bombay Mahogany

A few years ago Jake’s mom was visiting and spotted this chair on a trip to the Salvation Army. I think is was $10 but I honestly can’t remember. Almost 3 years later I FINALLY did something about it. Here’s the chair as it looked when we bought it. The cushion was gross and had inner springs. We immediately threw away the cushion/base. And then it sat in our basement…..

A couple weeks ago Jake took a couple measurements and cut a base for the chair. We picked up the thickest foam available at Joann’s and Jake used his band saw to cut the foam to size (it is much rougher and less neat if you use a knife). I added batting and fabric on top and used a staple gun to attach everything to the seat base. In order to avoid bulky fabric in the corners, I cut a square out of each corner and then sewed the seams together to make it a custom fit. Of course I did not get good pictures of the upholstering process because I was trying to finish it before Noah woke up from a nap. The new cushion looks great!! But the chair itself still needs some help.

I spent about 10-15 minutes sanding the frame so that I would have a nice work surface. Instead of using a stain and a poly, I used PolyShades in Bombay Mahogany. I was so excited to get started on the process that I forgot a complete “sanded” picture but here is one of the sanded chair and one arm has a single coat of PolyShades.

Here is the chair after the first coat — it took less than 30 minutes.

And after the second coat. I’m pleased with the color so I won’t be putting a third coat on the chair.

And after letting it sit overnight, I brought the chair into the house and tested it out with the cushion. Amazing!! A little stain, poly, and a new cushion! It still needs at least a week to cure before we can let Noah go crazy on it. I am so excited for my next Polyshades project!! Look out thrift stores!