My First Foray into Exotic Upholstery

Okay, it’s not really exotic. It’s a $6 canvas drop cloth from Lowe’s.

It’s going on this pink rocking chair.

The rocking chair was a Craigslist find, listed for $100. (Michael got it for $80). Someday in the future, it will be used to rock screaming infants. But now, it’s just pink.

I like the shape of the chair, and it’s low. Low is great for me and my whopping 5 ft stature.

I used Pinterest finds, this post, and this YHL post as inspiration. I love the way YHL’s ended up:

But I’m not ready to give up on my chair’s wood finish and spray paint it. Plus, I’m not ready to pick the long-term upholstery fabric. What if I hit my head before decorating the nursery, and I go for this style!?

So for now, the canvas drop cloth (which after washing, feels and looks like linen) will be the exotic upholstery of choice.

I thought about dying the fabric, or stenciling a pattern on it like so:

(P.s. See how those curtains were made here).

I was tempted to do both, but I wanted this project to be easy. A stencil would involve matching up patterns; no thanks.

I then decided to dye it… but the best color I could picture it was gray (also considered blue, green, and even purple). I have enough gray stuff already, so I left it.

Luckily for me, the seat cushion was simple. I removed the cushion, stapled new fabric (right over the old), and stuck the cushion back in.

The back was also simple, but not as error proof as the bottom. See the gimp trim around the current upholstery? (gimp is a new word for me, learn something new everyday!)

I didn’t really like the gimp trim, and I saw this helpful post about how to make double welt cord. The plan was to staple the fabric (again, right over the pink), and cover the messy staple border with double welt cord made from the same fabric.

I took all the gimp trim off, and took the fabric off the back (resulting in a handy template).

The back wasn’t in perfect condition, so I covered it back up.

Here it is all re-dressed.

This is the part where I was supposed to put double welt on. Let’s just say that double welt cording is above my reading level on the sewing machine 🙂

After breaking my only needle… I admitted defeat and bought some gimp trim.

I found some that matched quite well for $1.50 a yard… unfortunately I forgot to measure the amount I needed and bought 2 yards too many

I actually prefered the look of the back, so I used some all-purpose Tacky Glue I had on hand and covered the staples with the upside-down gimp trim.

I can confirm; this chair is no longer pink. It’s a little plain Jane, but it can be re-reupholstered once we stick it in a nursery.

This project, including $80 chair, $6 fabric, and $10 of gimp trim (blegh) was $96.

It took me 2.5 hours, including the wasted time attempting the double welt cord.