Upholstery Project

The constant struggle between being a minimalist and being practical. 

We've lived in this house for 2 years, and for most of that time, we just had the sectional couch, tv stand, and a couple of baskets holding the kids toys. Not that we are actually anywhere near being true minimalists, Cary and I do like a more clean look, but at some point you have to realize there are 6 people that live in this house and we all have "stuff" and need a place to sit. Last year in April I was on the look out for seating and found two chairs on KSL classifieds.

 They are beautiful.

 I got them for a really good deal because they needed to be reupholstered (dirty and worn material) and I've always wanted to try that, but they had the lines I was going for, and the lady I bought them from had let me know they had wood legs. Perfect. 

Cary brought them out in his truck and had to stop at Home Depot and apparently a lady stopped him in the parking lot and wanted to buy the chairs from him right there! He thought I was crazy for buying them in the first place so he seriously considered her offer. ;)

Now our living room looks all cluttery but a lot more functional. (and I can't believe how different it looks already from this photo)

Cary helped me rip all the old upholstery off and then I was on my own. My original plan was to do white leather, and I didn't get very far before we decided that was a bad idea. 

So I tried a gray velvet material...which I like, but now everything in my living room is gray. Bah.

I finished the first chair about a month later, in May and then I had all the fabric cut out and organized for the second chair and even started ripping off some of the old upholstery and I'm guessing that was around the time my grandpa died and I lost all steam for this project. 

The partially torn apart chair sat in our office for months, and all my fabric pieces got thrown around the room and disorganized! 

I don't normally do New Year's resolutions, but I made one about getting this chair done so we could get it out of the office! 

It is done! 

I'm definitely no professional, but I think they look okay for chairs that get beat up by 4 children everyday.

The kids really like the chairs and are pretty hard on them...kind of like everything else in the house it's making me wonder if I should have stuck with the leather....☺

I'm just happy to not have that project hanging over my head (and taking up space in the office) anymore!