A bit of this, a bite of that!: Garage Sale Transformation!

A few years ago my Father in law offered me this old desk that he had gotten from the College he works at, because he knows I like to paint furniture white! Now, he is a carpenter (an awesome one too) and I'm sure he cringes each time I light up when I talk about 'painting' something. Anyway, last fall when he came for a visit, he brought up the old desk for me!!!

So...now I had this desk, but no chair to sit on! One Saturday last fall while garage sailing, I came across this chair for 50cents!! It was pretty plain looking, simple lines and tatty old material on it. For 50cents, it was perfect!!

I found some pretty material in the colours that I wanted my 'office' to look like (the pretty pinks and greens that Lilly Pulitzer are famous for) and got busy sanding! Taking the old material off the seat was easy, some of those staples were really in there, bought a new piece of foam at Walmart for under $10 and used some primer and white paint that was left over from the bedrooms.

I used the old foam to trace around on the new foam and then some sharp scissors to cut it out...I also used the old material to trace onto the new material and left some extra room, as my new foam was thicker than the old one.

After the chair sanded, primed and painted, I worked on cutting out the foam and material...I quickly searched the web for recovering a seat ( I think I might have looked at a Martha Stewart one) and then got out the trusty staple gun!

I will not lie, it did not happen perfectly the first time! I had to pull numerous staples out to make sure the material wasn't puckering in places or stretching more on one side than the other...I even enlisted Hubby to help me a few times to staple while I held the material in place. I am new to the whole reupholstering thing, but I guess you learn as you go! It was actually fun working with him....he was a very good listener! Ha, ha

I was so excited to put the seat on the painted chair and add it to the desk...but my Mom reminded me, if Little Miss was going to be 'crafting' there at all, I would be wise to Scotchgard the seat first!! Mother's are always right. ;D

So I sprayed the seat and left it to dry in my laundry room over night. The next morning I screwed the seat back on and ..... VOILA!! My 50cent chair had been transformed!!