Slipcover a Real Chair ? YES, I Can!

FINALLY! After months of being embarrassed by the state of the rapidly deteriorating chair in our den........

Warning for my Mother: - remember how embarrassed you were when I shared the photo of my dining room on the "world wide web?" You may want to ignore these next photos!

A Special Plead to my Readers: Please do not judge me or my family for the condition of this chair. The rest of my furniture does NOT look like this - I promise. But this is my little-10-year-old-helper's favorite tv watching chair (since he was 2). --AND this chair sits in direct sunlight most of the day. --AND I am frugal and did not want to buy a new chair, without completely redecorating the entire den at the same time.


Warning: Don't get any closer.......

Yikes!!! What kind of people are we?

(Disgusting, I know.)

Well - I took some drop cloths from Home Depot and bleached them. I used two 12'x9' drop cloths and about 3 gallons of bleach. (Several washings). I also used rather fat cording - figuring if I am going to the trouble to place cording on every seam, then I want it to show!

I measured and cut and pinned and sewed.

And HERE is the finished product!!!!!........

We LOVE our "new" chair!!!

Lessons I learned:
(1) It is MUCH easier to tackle a project when the fabric you are cutting is inexpensive. So what if you mess up on two $9.00 drop cloths? Go buy one more and you will have a whopping $30 in the project (plus another $3 for the extra bleach). Certainly costs a LOT less than a new chair (plus a second matching chair, and a new sofa, and new window treatments, etc..)

(2) Canvas drop cloths are very SOFT - after two bleachings and two regular detergent washings.

(3) This project takes time (maybe 7 hours, total- with interruptions) and patience - but is not as difficult as I thought. Well worth my day!

(4) All drop cloth canvases are NOT the SAME! The two I bought at Home Depot for the chair were very thick and could withstand lots of bleach. The drop cloth I bought today at Lowe's (8 oz weight) is much thinner and only required about 1 cup of bleach (or less) to lighten. (It is a much thinner fabric.)

This post is featured at Kimba's Do-It-Yourself Day!

Please visit Metamorphosis Monday for more before and after projects!

This post is also linked to The Shades of Pink and Reinvented!