It’s finally done. Thank goodness. Am I in love? No. Do I enjoy it for now in the room we have? Yes.
I started the cane chair makeover way back when…
It took me months to decide on a fabric and honestly, I don’t love the one we chose. I like it and it coordinates with the other colors in the room that we can’t change (like the walls) so it works for me.
After carefully taking apart the entire chair I was left with this:
The best way I found to redo the chair was to save every piece I removed and just replicate them with the new fabric. I did things like, use giant rubber bands to keep the fabric in place so that I could really see where the pattern was going to lay on the chair, before stapling it down.
While I worked on getting the fabric in place Al worked on painting the chair. I was going to buy new paint but then we decided to use some left over spray paint we had first to see how it looked. We used the rest of the oil rubbed bronze can we had and we actually loved it.
It’s tough to tell in this terrible night-time photo, but it gives the chair a little bit of a shimmer when the sun hits it which is fun instead of a plain flat black.
Once I had the fabric patterns where I wanted them, all lined up, I started stapling it into place. This is where my efforts stalled. My staple gun wasn’t heavy-duty enough. So Al grabbed one to borrow from his dad. But then the staples weren’t long enough. So we went and bought longer staples. But they still wouldn’t staple through the fabric and padding and piping. So I had to change up my plan of attack.
We ended up stapling everything we could, again we followed it completely to how it was when we took it apart, so all chairs will be different.
Once everything was secure, I actually hand sewed the piping on. There are about two spots where you can see some thread but really only if you’re looking for it. My fingers were raw and burning and it took me forever but I think it was worth it because it looked pretty good in the end.
The final result left me very happy with our work.
One last before and after:
The final cost breakdown was:
$6.99 for the chair, $12 for fabric and piping, $3 for staples. A total of $21.99 plus some tax.
Not too bad. What do you think?!
LOVE THIS!
:) Thanks ERL!!
Is this barrel chair your? I am looking for one like this
Wow guys, I love it!!! Great job and I love the fabric…
What a difference fabric and paint makes. That is a really great chair, good job!
Thank you, thank you!
Nice job, it looks great! I do like that fabric too – beautiful! I’ve got this linked to my chairs post as well today, for inspiration!
Thank you! I just took a peek at your blog – great concept!
What a wonderful job you’ve done! Love the black. This is such a classic beauty and now it’s got a new life.
Thank you Kelly!
I am redoing the same chair! How much fabric did you buy?
I used 1 yard of fabric. BUT, it was very stressful for me making sure I didn’t mess up at all because I didn’t have any spare fabric! If I did it again I’d err on the safe side and get at least 1.5 yards. Hope it helps!
Where did you get that fabric? I love it!
Hi Maria! We got the fabric at a local fabric store here in Natick, MA called Fabric Place Basement. It’s a fabulous fabric store if you are local and can get to it. Hope it helps!
it’s beautiful!! I love it! ya’ll did a great job!
thank you candace!
Wow! What an amazing transformation! I LOVE the print and the change to black!
Thank you Sharon! We are sad that this chair didn’t make the cross country move with us. But, we’ve been on the hunt for another one to make over. Hopefully we’ll find one soon!
That looks awesome! I love the ORB finish as well – great choice. Thanks so much for linking up to Thrifty Thursday!
Thank you Ruth! I have a small obsession with ORB :)
Popping in from Thrifty Thursday at Living Wel, Spending Less. I love this chair makeover and I really like the fabric you picked too! Thanks for sharing! :)
– Claire @ A Little Claireification
I really like it! I have an almost identical chair that I picked up on craigslist- same orange and brown but mine has a taller back. You’ve inspired to give mine a makeover as well! Thanks!
You definitely should, Natalie! I’m scouring (like daily!) craigslist and thrift stores for another. No such luck yet. Good luck if you chose to give it a makeover. I’d love to see photos if you do!
Hi, this looks great! Was this a drop-in seat that you just recovered? I have two cane back barrel chairs that look pretty similar and I’m. Hesitant to start because of the seat cushion
Hi Sarah! It was a drop in seat that I recovered. It was fairly easy, I kept the original fabric and used it to cut patterns in my new fabric. Good luck!
Hi, I know this is an old thread, but did you spray the wicker part too. It looks a little browner, which I love!
I didn’t! I just cleaned it really well!