Nothing satisfies the DIY heart as quickly as changing the fabric of a chair. This office chair is no exception! In need of a comfy chair for my art table, I nabbed this office bad boy at my local GCF Store for the sale price of $5.99 plus tax. It has a nice "sit" to it and is slightly bouncy given the shape. The back is soft too and the right height. The chair's only negative was that scratchy, drab, office-blue upholstery.
I set off for a fabric pick-me-up at this awesome local fabric store called The Cloth Barn. It is a veritable fabric haven and I've found myself wandering the racks for many an hour. If you ever hear audible "Oohs" and "Awws" among the bolts, it's me. Coincidental, if I am ever reported missing, look for me there first. Anyway, there is a remnant room that is always good for a rummage and that's where I found a 3/4 yard piece of thick, upholstery weight, grey and yellow ikat. (I don't know about you, but I love a good ikat). It was a whopping $3 per yard.
Score! (Cody the dog is equally excited)
For that seamless look, this chair has a panel on the back that snaps in with four plastic plug thingies. Once I snapped those off the rest of dis-assembly was a cinch. Before recovering I didn't bother removing the existing fabric and just stapled my fabric over the top. The yardage wasn't quite big enough to center the main ikat element and leave enough fabric for all the necessary pieces so I opted for an off-center set up that allowed alignment between the top cushion and the bottom. I probably just lost all you OCD perfectionists out there but please bear with me to the end?
After a moment of hesitance I remembered this re-do was about quick frugality and one must not fret about the whole symmetry thing.
After many staples, the cushions were complete and I was on to the back panel with my fingers crossed that I had enough fabric left to cover it. BARELY. The panel is metal and the fabric had been stretched and anchored with metal hooks and my last scrap was not big enough. What to do, what to do?
Hot glue gun.
Tenuous moments and burned fingers later, the last bit of fabric somehow managed to cover the back panel. A quick assembly and BOOM. I have one snazzy work chair. Bye, bye drab office blues!
Ain't she a beaut?!
(See, the off centered pattern works just fine since both the top and bottom cushion are matched up.
I told you it'd all work out!)
Project budget: roughly $10.00
chair - $6ish
fabric - $3ish
staples and hot glue - $0 (already had these)
At home next to my messy art desk.
Note: I briefly considered spray painting the chair frame but the gray powder coating works well enough with the fabric and I worried about the potential of paint rubbing off into the carpet and making me a nasty mess. So I opted to leave it as is.