A very unprofessional labor of love.

Speaking of chairs.... I think it's about time I show you more than a sneak peek of our living room chair.

When Mr. Spice and I first moved in together I had my sights set on recovering this old baby blue hand me down chair that he had. The bones of the chair were/are in amazing condition, but the baby blue had seen better days. In fact, the cat has been using the chair for eons as his own personal scratching post. The only good thing about the chair, it was hidden away in our office nook at our old place.

Flash forward to this last summer, and I still hadn't recovered the chair. And now that I couldn't hide the chair away it became even more of an eye sore:

Ekk. Do you love the blue in all it's glory. What about that terrifying cherry fabric that I used to 'spruce it up.'

Well, finally about eight months ago, I decided to take on this project in earnest. I really had NO idea what I was doing, but I figured, I'd just wing it. If I failed, well, I'd be out a few bucks.

I have no 'in the process' pictures because honestly, it was a pretty pathetic process. I couldn't tell you how I did it because honestly, it'd be more of a how NOT to recover a chair.

So with that as an introduction. Here she is:



As you can tell with that horribly crooked line at the bottom, I still have some touch up work that needs to be done to finalize the chair. But I am not sure I'll ever have the heart to finish it. It does look better, but I am already saving my pennies until I can shell out the 500 bucks or so that it would cost to professionally recover it. At least the animals love it.



Just in case you want the break down, here's what this project cost:
Grey corduroy fabric on sale: $6 a yard. (yes, I am cheap and I didn't even use upholstery fabric). So for 6 yards= $36 plus tax.
Yellow velvet fabric (not on sale): $14 a yard. For two-ish yards= $28 plus tax.
Grey thread: no idea, $3 bucks maybe?

So all in all the project was about $70. And just because a good before and after is always great, here's our little nook in the living room today:

I am still working on the drapes. But I think my homemade pillows are the real success here- not the chair.

So, have you ever taken on a project that you have no idea what you are doing??? Or finished a project and then immediately want a professional upgrade?