The Aztec Chair Makeover for $15

The Aztec Chair Makeover: for $15

                    

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On a Wednesday afternoon I decided to spend my 30 minute lunch hour at a thrift shop down the street from my office. And at that thrift shop I found this set of vintage metal chairs.

The seats were in real bad shape but the bones of the chairs were great! I saw potential right off the bat. They were very sturdy and each knick, dent and paint chip on the legs told a story. So took them both home for a total of $5. 

                                     

So to begin the chair makeover, I shopped for the perfect fabric and gathered all the supplies I would need. 

Supplies needed:

-safety glasses

-Screwdriver 

-gloves

-fabric scissors

-fabric

-staple gun

-measuring tape or ruler

                                     

As you can see, the bottom of these seat cushions were scary. 

step 1
1) First step was to remove the seat cushions. They were simply held on by screws, so I took them off. 

step 2

2) Second step was to remove the cover on the seat cushions to inspect the condition of the actual seat cushion. The plastic covering was attached very tightly to the seat cushion, and the old staples were very old and rusty, so I just cut off the old plastic covering being very careful to not cut into the actual cushion itself underneath the plastic. (Easier said than done!)

One of the cushions was in much worse shape than I had hoped. I pulled just a little too hard on the corner of an old staple, and the entire corner tried to come off! :( 

                                   step 3                              

3) So I got some really sturdy, thick cardboard I had on hand and cut out a new bottom support for the broken cushion. 

The two cushions with old fabric removed. 

4) The next step was to inspect the old cushions for bugs or anything else gross that could be living within the fabrics. You just never know what you'll be taking home from a thrift store. These cushions seemed to be clean to me, so no bug spray was needed. 

** I also washed off the metal chair frames and let them air dry in the sun. They were covered in dirt and dust.

5) So I attached the new cardboard backing to the broken cushion with a staple gun. 

                         

6) Next, I got out the fabric. Starting with one corner  of the seat on the ending corner of the fabric, I starting stapling. Once I had one corner and one whole side stapled, I measured out the remaining fabric that would be needed to complete the cushion and cut out the fabric not needed. 

**Remember to check your fabric BEFORE you start to staple to make sure the fabric is facing the direction you want it to, and to make sure its the right side up.

**Also remember to pull your fabric very, very tightly as you staple it to keep it uniform and tidy on the front side of the cushion.

                                  

Some of my corners had too much fabric gathered in the folds, so I chopped off the extra after I securely stapled it on. 

The Painting Stage:

After I placed the reupholstered cushion on the chair to view it (not yet screwed back onto the chair) I thought there was something missing. I had picked a very light colored fabric to use, so your eye was drawn straight to the cushion and the rest of the chair was left unloved. I needed something else.I thought about it for a while and on a whim I decided I would paint the chair back. It was a perfect solid wood and was begging for some love. 

So I gathered my supplies. 

Supplies needed to paint: 

-Desired color of acrylic paint

Painting tray or paper plate

-Small paint brush

-Water cup

-Paper 

-Pencil

-Measuring tape or ruler

-Tape

7) I chose to paint on an simple shaped Aztec design to go with the Pendleton style fabric I had used on the cushions. I measured the chair's back and decided on the size of the design I wanted on the chair. Then I sketched it out. And erased it, and re-drew it, then erased it again and re-drew it a million times over until it was to my liking. 

8)Then I cut the design out and taped it to the chair. 

9) I painted around the outside of my cutout to get the shape. And instead of full painting, I "dry painted" this design on, a technique I learned from the Junk Gypsy Book. I dabbed my paintbrush very lightly in the paint and spread the paint out lightly on the chair back because I wanted it to be rough and somewhat "faded" and not full bright full of new paint. 

I then removed the cutout and decided I wanted to paint the full shape of the design, but smaller sized, within the blue shape I had just painted. And instead of going back and creating a new stencil (like I knew I should have) I decided I would free hand it. And boy do I regret that. While my final product came out great I do still wish I would have made a stencil for the center of the design and I would have a much more uniform design. Oh well, lesson learned. 

step 9
10) Once the paint was dry I screwed the cushions back onto the chairs!

                                step 10                            
And ta-da! The final products. I finished the entire project in about 3 hours and all for under $15. The chairs were $5, the paint was under $3 (I already had it on hand) and the fabric was $14 for a whole yard but I barely used half of the yard. So the total came to be $15. SO worth it in my book!

The finished product. Refinished thrift store chairs. Aztec style. 

I purchased the fabric off of Etsy, the Indian Fabric's store. 

This project was fun and relatively easy. I will be keeping my eye open for more sturdy chairs like these to fix up with creative love. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a blessed day!

XoXo- Sarah Beth