Sometimes when decorating my own home I am torn by the conflicting voices in my designer’s head. One side tells me to go for the “cheap thrills” of the bright and beautiful pieces of furniture I can find in stores like Target and Ikea. While those provide a quick high, I know from experience that these pieces don’t always last as long, are not as well made, and don’t hold up to tough use. And with three young children and a puppy, my family is the very definition of tough use! Let’s just say these pieces won’t be heirlooms for my children. On the other hand, those high quality “will last for a hundred years” pieces are sometimes out of my budget.
Or I can’t bear to spend that money on a single chair knowing that there is a chance that a flying cup of purple smoothie might land smack in the middle it.
True story, but that is for another day.
However, I have stumbled upon what I believe is the perfect middle ground. I found myself an upholsterer. She does beautiful work and is reasonably priced. She is old-school: no emails, no texts. I call her and bring the piece directly to her. But she is worth every penny. I have used her to upholster hand-me downs from family members. These pieces were high quality but not quite my style. My other favorite trick is to scour Craigslist for high quality pieces in exceptionally ugly fabrics. I have found three wingback chairs in great shape, each for under $50. On your hunt, be sure to look for pieces that are sturdy, classic shapes, and don’t have cracked frames. Note, a good upholsterer can fix a worn out cushion though, no problem!
So first, get some eye candy for inspiration! You can go bright and wild, or stick to something more traditional, the great news if you can have some fun with it:
Something to ponder when upholstering a piece…not all fabrics are created alike for use on furniture. Look for fabrics that are classified as “heavyweight” or “very heavyweight”. Another way a fabric durability is described is “double rubs”. A fabric that is 15,000 double rubs or over is classified as heavy use. Depending on the type of use, you could get away with less durable fabrics. Your upholsterer can give you guidance if a fabric is thick enough to work for a piece. For a piece of furniture that is more of an accent/low-use piece, you can be a little more flexible.
I found this simple, but modern print at Fabric.com (my go-to fabric retailer, BTW), and the best part: it was only $9.87/yard! I spent around $75 on fabric since I was doing both a chair and an ottoman. It was classified as “medium weight” but this is a much lower use chair, so I took the gamble:
Any time I reupholster a piece I always spray Scotchguard to it (remember the smoothie incident?). It’s been a lifesaver more than once. I know you can actually get a piece PROFESSIONALLY sprayed, so that little luxury might be worth it, if you are really worried. If I was doing a high-use sofa, I think I would spring for it. But for now, I have just used the good old spray can!
So this is what I found on Craiglist (I swear we had the same chair growing up!). I wasn’t digging the pattern, but it was extremely solid. The frame was sturdy, and the cushions looked great. (However, an upholsterer can fix saggy cushions). And $50 for a chair AND ottoman? Thank you Craigslist!
I dropped off my chair and fabric to my upholsterer. And about two weeks later I got my call-my new was ready! My upholsterer charged me $350 to do both the chair AND the ottoman. I had her add nail heads to the piece, which upped the price a bit. All said and done, I have a chair I’m in love with for $475. This is all a completely custom piece where I was able to choose the exact pattern I wanted…try finding that in stores!
Here’s the chair with the match ottoman:
Here is the chair in our living room! The floral chair next to it is actually a second-hand make-over itself! The overstuff chair-and-a-half was a hand-me down from my parents, but the fabric didn’t match my room. I paid my lovely little sis to create a slipcover for it using this casual floral pattern. One advantage to a slipcover is you can take it off and wash it! TIP: I have had slipcovers made for wingback chairs in the past, but it is hard to get a tight, structured look for this type of chair. Slipcovers tend to work better for a more casual look.
I loved the results, so recently I obtained two more Craigslist wingbacks ($100 for the pair), and had them reupolstered by the same woman for a totally new look! I chose fabric that was less than $15/yard, and went for this geometric pattern. I wanted something a little more busy to cover any stains that might happen since they will be around food. This is in our Dining Room, where we did a budget make-over using almost all second hand furniture. Check out the post HERE if you want to see the full results (and laugh with me at the horrible “before”!)
Almost all of my clients have SOME furniture they want to keep when I am helping them design their new space. Sometimes we take an older piece or hand-me down and reupholster it for a whole new look (for a lot less than new). Here’s one room where we did that exact same thing! She loved her “pod” style chairs, but they needed a make-over…add some modern fabric for the cusions and new pillows…and she loved the results! Want to know more about how Postbox Designs E-Design works? Check it out at: Inside a Postbox!
Good luck and be sure to share any great stories of your favorite reupholstered pieces with me on Facebook, or check out the bazillion wingbacks I have pinned on Pinterest!
Want to see even more Wingback Chair ideas? Check out the whole round-up over at Oh Everything Handmade!
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