Impromptu Upcycling

So I've always known that I have a bit of an addictive personality, but I never thought I'd be quite so impulsive.  Or obsessive compulsive if you ask my husband.  Tomato Tomawto.  When Tim and I returned from living overseas, we didn't exactly have a tonne of furniture as we hadn't kept anything when we left Canada.  We were starting from scratch and welcomed any help we could get in setting up our home.  Luckily, we inherited a couch and chair from his parents that exhibits, to this day, incredible construction and comfort.  They are, however, covered in an absolutely hideous pattern.  Stylish for the time they were purchased many moons ago, I am sure, but definitely in need of some updating.  In our efforts to make the best of a good inheritance, we bought a couch cover and threw a large and lusciously soft blanket over the chair.  I think you can see where this is going....

I woke up one morning... or rather it was likely more I couldn't get back to sleep after Gracie's early morning feed, but that's just a minor and unimportant detail.  I woke up one morning and was overwhelmed with, let's call it a 'desire', to try my hand at recovering the chair.  Something had to be done.  I hated the shuffling around of the blanket and cover, the bunching and pulling, the crumb-catching and general blech.  It had to go.

But I didn't exactly want to fork out the dough for a new couch.  Not when we have a baby that will barf, slobber, and grope at it.  And then a toddler that will sticky-finger-"mommy-look-I'm-jumping-on-the-couch!".  And then a teenager that would wipe god knows what on it.  No.  No, I'd rather save my money and buy a truly fabulous couch later.  For now, I'm jumping on the upcycling bandwagon (which I'm a true believer in by the way), take what I have and repurpose, recover, renew it to make it wonderful again.

So I moseyed, yes moseyed, on over to the fabric store, picked out an upholstery fabric that I figured I wouldn't hate in mere months and collected some supplies.  And then I got to work.  Of course I googled the crap out of 'chair reupholstery' and every variation I could think of... you'd bet there would be all sorts of tutorials and recommendations, but no.  There is, in my opinion, a shameful lack of information available.  And, the ones that are out there involve the cumbersome and daunting task of cutting off the existing fabric, laying it out to make a pattern, and then sewing a new cover for your furniture.  Well... since I couldn't (at that time) sew a stitch if my life depended on it and I wasn't about to let this get in my way, I took a stab at it my way.

Fabric was purchased on discount at Fabricland: $8.99/m.  Total cost, including staple gun, $150.

I knew that with a little artful folding, some liquid stitch, and a trusty staple gun... I could get the job done.  Yes, you read it right, there isn't a single stitch in that recovered chair.  With a 4 month old daughter, it took me a few days to get it done... but I was very impressed once I was finished.  Even Tim loved it, so much so that he asked me to do the couch too.  Sure honey!  Whatever you want :)

This fabulous fabric is from IKEA, $5.99/m.  Total cost: $104.

Gracie, at 6 months, was napping morning and afternoon so I was able to get this project done in a little more than a week.  The cushions are the trickiest part, one a day.  But the bottom, back, and sides were completed in two days.  Not too shabby!

I also decided to recover our stools and paint a canvas for the wall... but that's for the next blog.

So if you have an old couch, or coffee table, or dresser, or heck anything that's old... don't throw it away.  Find a little inspiration and a pinch of 'what-the-hell' and make it new again.  Upcycling is very chic these days :)