My New Chair

After holding on to this chair for more than one year, I finally started and finished it before leaving Provo. The week before leaving, things were hectic, but it had to be done. So, at 6am on several mornings, I went to work on it. Special thanks to Wayne at the BYU Upholstery Shop who walked me through step by step and sewed my material together. There's no way I could have finished it without him. I chose a much too hard first project, but wasn't aware of that until he taught me! And, thanks to Dad for helping me while they were in town...and to Marcus for supporting me in my crazy projects and while I do them, watching the girls.

This is what the baby looked like after I picked her up off the street. It was love at first sight! I loved the old style and if it wasn't ripped and faded, this would have been a real beauty queen. But, work had to be done.

Ok, I can't seem to rotate some of these pictures...but this is her in the shop. I worked on campus in the BYU Upholstery Shop. This is with all the fabric stripped off, showing the stuffing. It took a while to take off all the fabric, and my finger tips were quite sore.

from the back: After taking off the back stuffing to see the skeleton of the chair. We found out this was a custom made chair...expensive for the day. Wayne estimated it was from the '40s or '50s. Cool! This chair kept getting better and better!

Wayne -- the Upholstery Guru

Dad helping me out -- stapling the back material on before we put the fabric on.




The finished product sitting in Samantha's room.

Close up. In order to get the project done in a timely fashion, we simplified a lot of it. But, by doing so, we also made it modern. I wanted it to be a classic simple look, and I'm really happy with the results! Yippee! Total cost of project: $18. The fabric I got from the clearance section for $3/yrd. The other cost was just loss of sleep. The first morning I worked on it was about 1/2 hour after running my 1/2 marathon. I was pretty tired, but it was worth it. I love this chair. It is so comfortable. I sit in it while I read to Samantha. One day it will probably either be in our room as a reading chair, or in a more formal living room. We'll see. But wahoo! I love my projects.