February 25, 2012

A Retro Redo

Since we've been in Alton, I've started a new hobby...antique shopping. There are some great buys out there and it's a thrifty way to get high quality furniture for a fraction of the cost of buying new. At first Kyle thought it was just a bunch of "old crap", but I think I've convinced him that it's a good way for us to fill in the missing pieces of furniture without having to spend a lot.

About a month ago, while meandering through an antique mall with Nana, I came across these danish modern chairs and I just couldn't get them out of my head. The ugly, lime green "pleather" had to go and reupholstering them seemed a bit overwhelming, but again, in order to save money it had to be a DIY project. For just $50 a piece, we bought 2 of these chairs and began to make them our own.



Kyle immediately began ripping out the hundreds of staples while keeping the existing material intact for us to use as a template. While taking the chairs apart we found out they were made in 1967.

We searched around for a funky fabric that would fit the retro style of the chair without making it look old. We finally ordered a fun upholstery fabric online for half the price I saw it for in the stores and we're thrilled with it. My mom and I cautiously recovered the chair, learning as we went. A few hours later we had a new chair and we couldn't be happier with the results.

What do you think?





A side by side of the before and after. One chair down, one to go.


You could say that we just love our new chairs and can't wait to put them in our new home (wherever it will be).


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