From Retro to Rockin’

It’s been too long since I’ve been here. Jeff and I have been extremely busy this summer and I have neglected you all!

A while back I bought these chairs on the cheap from a thrift store near town. I saw potential for them in my dining room. Since I want an eclectic dining room I thought these chairs would look great with my other two wooden ones, that ya’ll haven’t seen yet.

So, without further adieu’ here they are:

This is what they looked like when I purchased them from a thrift store. Yes, I know there is one in the picture, but the other one looked just the same. Trust me.

So, I started to take the seat off of my new/old chairs so I could spray paint the frame and the seat totally fell apart. For those of you interested the bottom of my old chair seat said: The Duchess Line, Aristocrat of Dinettes. Manufactured By: Gate City Table Co. Inc, Atlanta, GA. I thought that was super cool. I have yet to researched the company and maybe trace back the dates of these chairs.

I spray painted the frame Heirloom White by Rustoleum. Next, my amazingly handy hubby cut me new seat bases out of 3/8 inch plywood, by tracing the old seat and then using a jigsaw to cut them out.

Then it was time to make those hard boards soft. I purchased foam squares from Wal-Mart.

You are going to need to traced the foam and then cut it. Then you will need quilt batting. I got extra loft so it would be plusher, since it is for a seat. You need to flip the seat over with the foam under the board and then cut around it (about five inches extra on all four sides). I always make sure to overestimate on this part because it’s okay to have extra, but if you don’t have enough batting or fabric you are out of luck!

Next, staple all the way around. I start on one side and pull it tight, then I go directly across the side I just finished and pull it tight and staple. I continue this idea all the way around to keep it tight. Lastly I staple the corners. I’m not to great at that yet. After I’m finished stapling I cut the extra loose batting.

Chair seat with just batting. This is what your seat should look like flipped over.

For my fabric I wanted to use canvas drop cloth. It’s a sturdy, durable, material. I bleached mine out. I also wanted to create a chevron pattern, so I found one online and printed it out, then cut it. You should lay it where you would like it on the fabric (if you want to try to recreate this), then pin it down. Next, take painter’s tape and go around the pattern (see picture below).

To paint your fabric you need to mix two parts acrylic paint with one parts fabric medium. You can buy fabric medium at Hobby Lobby. I use it all the time. This makes the paint permanent. You just mix, paint, heat set with a blow-dryer. You can wash the fabric after 7 days. The paint will not come off even if it gets wet.

The next step after you get all your tape on is to remove the pattern and paint in the space.

To paint the negative space, you can just leave the pattern pinned down and then paint the canvas around. You don’t get as crisp of lines, but it still looks pretty good.

After my canvas was all dry I decided I wasn’t happy with the color I had chosen. It just seemed to dark for our house. I decided to take a lighter blue and mix with the medium and paint over by hand with a small brush. Here’s the final product:

Before After

So there you have how to make your own base, cover your own seat, and how to design your own fabric! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

(Side note: if the above pictures have a pink hue, it’s not your eyes or your computer, it’s my dining room. I have a pink sheet hung over the window for privacy)

Cheers!