Upcycling... well.... "Trash"

I have a great mother.  She was always finding fun activities for us to do when we were growing up, and it almost always involved a creative project.  Coloring refrigerator boxes to be play houses, building tree houses, painting old pieces of wood and lots of coloring books, this was my childhood.  Something my mother has passed on to me is the joy of "upcycling."  Upcycling is a new term meaning creating a better purpose for something that is no longer of use or in this case liked.  Growing up we called it "picking up good trash."  Recently we just finished installing our kitchen banquet seating. (Check it out here!) I finally got the booth I wanted but I was missing a couple of chairs to fit around the table.  I searched high and low for affordable chairs but I couldn't find anything I wanted to spend money on.  The upside of "upcycling" is that you do not have to buy anything brand new you use what you have and you make it better!  When I told my mother what I was looking for she said she would keep an eye out. 

Later on that week my dad sent me this picture....  Can you believe that someone would put solid wood chairs and a table out on the side of the road!?  Me either. They grabbed me the two chairs I needed just in time.  

I took the cushions off the chairs and prepped the chairs for painting.  The wood was nice but it would not go with my light and delicate look for my kitchen.  I prepped the chairs by wiping them down and removing all of the hardware.  One chair had a small hole in the side and I filled it with simple wood fill. 

After putting couple coats of my paint on I was ready to reattach the cushions.  I used Behr aqua smoke for the paint on these chairs.  To cover the chairs I bought two yards of fabric from my local hobby lobby store.  This is a canvas fabric so that it is more durable.  You will also need a staple gun.  I love mine! Best craft investment ever!

The cushions on these chairs were gross and stained.  One of the cushions even had magic marker colored all over it.  I scrubbed the cushions down with a detergent mix to clean them up a bit.  

I cut the fabric to the same measurement of the chair plus an inch on each side to be sure I had enough fabric.  If you are acquainted with upholstery then you might not need as much all the way around.  

After covering my seat I was ready to reattach to the chair. These chairs still had the hardware with them so it was a simple reattachment with the screws and a Philips head screwdriver. 

Boom!  Awesome upcycle and with minimum investment.  This chair redo would definitely make mamma proud. 

SNEAK PEEK!  Look what I found this week....