This chair was a monumental find for me.
It was my first roadside find. I found it even before I found my metal cabinet that I turned into craft storage.
I was just, ummmm, slow, very slow about getting around to fixing it.
I think the wait was worth it though – I love how this chair makeover turned out.
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Where I live, there just don’t seem to be many roadside finds. I’ve been on the lookout for the better part of ten years and have found two to date.
I was so excited about this that I had my friend snap a picture when I was picking it up.
I’m a dork like that.
As with all things that seem too good to be true, this chair did have a flaw. The back legs looked to be missing their feet. They were both angled off.
To fix them, I chopped them off to make the back legs flat, then drilled a hole and put in feet from a table I had bought at a yard sale that I didn’t need.
After I fixed the feet, I stripped all the fabric off the chair, then gave it a coat of primer, then a couple coats of Dragon Fruit by Behr in a gloss finish. I used my HomeRight Finish Max Pro to do all the painting.
Next was the fun part, upholstering. I was really excited about the fabric I chose – Houndstooth Black Fabric.
However, I was worried about upholstering this chair – perhaps why I had put it off for so long?
If you noticed the back of this chair was tufted. I was terrified of tufting. I had never once attempted it.
Now, I am so mad at myself for not trying it before – it was so easy!
Before attempting the actual tufting, I took the old buttons and wrapped them in the houndstooth fabric with hot glue.
‘Cause I’m a professional like that.
For the tufting:
First, I cut a piece of fabric that was about double the size of the back. You don’t need that much – I was just worried about not having enough. Then, I poked my buttons through, starting in the middle and working my way out.
You can see in #3 how it looks on the backside. You put a little disk through the metal prongs, then spread them out. After I had all the tufting done, I trimmed the fabric and stapled it around the edges, then trimmed it out, like I did on my Jonathan Adler inspired chair.
Next, I started on the seat. You can see the layers of everything below. Because I hate to sew anything that isn’t a straight line, I used the old seat cushion to trace out a new piece of foam and just made the whole seat one piece.
Before doing any of the main seat upholstery, I did these little patches on the side.
Then, I just cut a large piece of fabric, pulled, and stapled around the bottom of the chair as necessary.
I love the combination of the pink paint with the houndstooth fabric. I think it would be perfect for a little girl’s room.
I kept the trim a simple black just because there was so much color going on with the pink.
Have you ever done a chair makeover with a roadside find?
More Chair Makeovers & Upholstery Posts You Might Want To See:
How to Waterproof & Repel Stains on Fabric
How to Upholster a Cane Chair (Jonathan Adler Inspired)
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Well, maybe I shouldn’t say that’s how it started out. Of course, at one time it was the standard army color for lockers. Then my father-in-law said he plastered paisley fabric on it during his hippie days. And at some point it was yellow? So, the photo above is how it looked when I got it.
Anytime I makeover a small piece of furniture like this, I try to use paint I already have. I hate going out and buying a can of paint for one small piece. In other words, I’m cheap. Luckily, I had enough of the salmon pink from the 
And then I just applied 
The Rich Navy is also a perfect contrast to the 
And some of you even said you wanted them!
The 
I finally found some pendant lights I loved. They are much more modern than the light fixture over the sink, which may get switched out soon.
Of course, my kitchen would not be complete without a touch of cotton somewhere.
And intricate hand iced cookies. Why, yes, I did make those. And no, I’d never lie to you about something like perfectly iced cookies. *evil laugh*
I will say that I love all the “white-ware,” but I’m not quite sure its still working for me. It may get changed soon.
The 
My mother-in-law bought me this fabulous caddy from Pottery Barn. Its probably supposed to be used outside, but it is perfect to corral all the clutter on the countertops.
In the last kitchen tour, many people asked about 
I use a modern wood container to hold my salt, pepper, olive oil, etc. by the stove. Its easy access and makes the necessities a bit prettier. The same goes for the silver pitcher – a Goodwill find. I’m not quite sure what the round piece of wood is from that is behind it all. I picked it up at one of my favorite local shops because I thought it would be a nice contrast with the backsplash.
The top part, the hutch, actually came with that 
Once the table was in place, we set the hutch on top of it, then Grunt Labor found a stud and secured the hutch to the wall with a screw.
I painted it all glossy black to match the 
And added a fun pillow to keep me workin’ hard.
And I love it. I seriously love working in this space every single day. I smile every time I look at my new office space.
I bought four small rolls of stretch sequin ribbon in gold from Michael’s. It took two rolls per coat hanger. I think each roll was about $4 regular. Use your coupons or wait till its on sale to get it cheaper! That’s what I did!
After the sequin ribbon fabulous-ness was attained, I just wrapped it around the coat hanger, putting a dot of hot glue on the coat hanger every now and then to keep the ribbon in place.
I used 
