About a year ago I purchased this table set at an annual church yard sale at Smith Mountain Lake. At the time we were considering making the move off the lake and to a specific house in North Carolina closer to our girls. I thought, if we got that house, it would be perfect in the sunroom to have a nice long table where the whole family could fit around casually for brunch or meals or to play games. I also, thought, worst case scenario, I could look fix it up and flip it. So I bought it for $250!

Fast forward ten months. We are now in that house and the table is in that sun room patiently waiting for me to refresh it. The chairs were in pretty bad shape as far as upholstery goes but overall in solid construction.

The fabric screamed 1970’s which was actually kind of cool, but not my color scheme or vibe. The more pressing issue was the sinking seats on the two arm chairs. So, once I decided on a fabric and color scheme for that room, I moved full steam ahead tearing them down to see what was up. Here is what I discovered.

After removing the cambric, fabric, foam, batting, cotton fill layer, and burlap, I discovered that the heavy jute webbing that was nailed and stapled to the seat frame for it’s main support had completely disintegrated and had broken away from the frame. The only thing preventing someone from falling straight through was all the other layers stapled to the chair. So I proceeded to remove all the pieces on all the chairs. What a messy job!

Once the chairs were practically naked, I wanted to freshen up the gold metal frame which appeared grayed and pitted. I rubbed on some leftover Gold Rub from another project and it did the trick. I then took some wood moisturizer and wiped down the frame of the chair to revive the color and to refresh the wood. I wasn’t looking at doing a complete strip and refinish. This was just enough to clean them up.

Now I was finally ready to upholster. The patterned fabric I chose was from Charlotte Fabrics. It has a high rub count and rated for a project like this. I may also spray them with Scotch Guard to be extra safe as the kiddos often sit on these chairs and there may be ketchup and mustard involved.

So piece by piece and in reverse order, I started adding back the layers until they were finally done. Since I picked a fabric that somewhat of a pattern on it, I took time to make sure they were consistently placed from chair to chair.

I am so happy with the finished product.

Slowly but surely this room is coming together. Next up, making new cushion covers for the classic Ethan Allan wood framed sofa and loveseat. So excited to finally get to this project!

Denise