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Lindsey Thomason

Simple Life + Working Mom

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cane chair makeover

March 7, 2012 by Lindsey 27 Comments

It’s finally done. Thank goodness. Am I in love? No. Do I enjoy it for now in the room we have? Yes.

cane chair before and after

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?!

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Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: antique cane chair makeover, cane chair makeover, how to makeover a cane chair, how to redo a sitting chair, sitting chair makeover

Comments

  1. ERL says

    March 7, 2012 at 11:49 am

    LOVE THIS!

    Reply
    • Lindsey T says

      March 7, 2012 at 12:07 pm

      :) Thanks ERL!!

      Reply
      • Bev says

        August 1, 2016 at 10:53 am

        Is this barrel chair your? I am looking for one like this

        Reply
  2. Lisa Thomason Hester says

    March 7, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    Wow guys, I love it!!! Great job and I love the fabric…

    Reply
  3. Aunt K says

    March 7, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    What a difference fabric and paint makes. That is a really great chair, good job!

    Reply
  4. Lindsey T says

    March 7, 2012 at 7:46 pm

    Thank you, thank you!

    Reply
  5. Inspire Me Heather says

    March 19, 2012 at 6:43 am

    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!

    Reply
    • Lindsey T says

      March 19, 2012 at 6:49 am

      Thank you! I just took a peek at your blog – great concept!

      Reply
  6. kelly@refresheddesigns. says

    March 21, 2012 at 6:57 pm

    What a wonderful job you’ve done! Love the black. This is such a classic beauty and now it’s got a new life.

    Reply
    • Lindsey T says

      March 27, 2012 at 2:07 pm

      Thank you Kelly!

      Reply
  7. True Blue says

    April 20, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    I am redoing the same chair! How much fabric did you buy?

    Reply
    • Lindsey T says

      April 22, 2012 at 7:02 am

      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!

      Reply
  8. Maria says

    October 11, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    Where did you get that fabric? I love it!

    Reply
    • Lindsey T says

      October 12, 2012 at 1:41 pm

      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!

      Reply
  9. candacec says

    March 14, 2013 at 12:11 pm

    it’s beautiful!! I love it! ya’ll did a great job!

    Reply
    • Lindsey T says

      March 14, 2013 at 12:32 pm

      thank you candace!

      Reply
  10. Sharon @ Life After Empty Nest says

    March 14, 2013 at 3:08 pm

    Wow! What an amazing transformation! I LOVE the print and the change to black!

    Reply
    • Lindsey T says

      March 14, 2013 at 3:10 pm

      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!

      Reply
  11. Ruth@LivingWellSpendingLess says

    March 15, 2013 at 6:39 am

    That looks awesome! I love the ORB finish as well – great choice. Thanks so much for linking up to Thrifty Thursday!

    Reply
    • Lindsey T says

      March 15, 2013 at 8:20 am

      Thank you Ruth! I have a small obsession with ORB :)

      Reply
  12. Claire @ A Little Claireification says

    March 15, 2013 at 8:18 pm

    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

    Reply
  13. Natalie says

    March 22, 2013 at 1:14 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Lindsey T says

      March 23, 2013 at 2:06 pm

      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!

      Reply
  14. Sarah g says

    April 16, 2018 at 1:31 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Lindsey says

      April 18, 2018 at 8:09 pm

      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!

      Reply
  15. Janice says

    December 27, 2018 at 10:07 am

    Hi, I know this is an old thread, but did you spray the wicker part too. It looks a little browner, which I love!

    Reply
    • Lindsey says

      February 11, 2019 at 9:26 am

      I didn’t! I just cleaned it really well!

      Reply

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