Chair makeover!

I'm so excited about my chair makeover project that I'm writing this post on my phone--no time to get the laptop out! Upon surveying the odd mishmash of chairs in my new classroom, I discovered this beauty:

I have no idea where this chair came from, but its life is about to change...

Okay, I realized earlier as I was blogging on my phone that the Blogger app won't let me put the pictures where I want them to appear on the page. So I am now doing a late-night blog post edit, and I'm moving some photos around. Anyway, that photo up there is my "before" shot: a metal-framed chair upholstered in vomit-pink, with mysterious stains on the cushions. Despite its appearance, this chair is actually super comfortable. Luckily for this potentially ill-fated chair, I fell in love with this adorable chevron fabric and couldn't resist buying a yard. Perfect for my very-first-ever attempt at reupholstery!

Here is a lovely Instagrammed photo of my fabric. The top one is for my curtains, which I made last night. Photos to come, once I replace the warped curtain rods. The bottom fabric was just calling my name!

So this morning I headed over to my classroom, armed with my tool kit and staple gun (side note: I noticed today that most of my tools are pink. Kind of embarrassing). I managed to take the chair apart, and then I just did what I've seen people do on HGTV: I just started pulling the fabric tight and stapling it. Over and over and over. (Another side note: this process only takes ten minutes on HGTV. That is not the case in real life.

The underside of the chair. That's my pink phillips head screwdriver right there. Since she's pink, she's actually a Philippa head.

This process was made easier by the fact that all the hardware on this cheaply made chair was visible and easily accessible. Nothing my pink wrench couldn't handle! Here's a quick photo run-down of my upholstery process. I tried to document it with my phone, but I kept forgetting to take pictures...

I removed the seat first... did a rough measure and cut...

Then I began pulling the fabric as tight as I could and stapling it in place. First the front and back of the seat, and then the sides. Note: be careful not to cover up the holes! You'll need those in order to reassemble the chair :)

I had to take my jewelry off before I could start staple... the staple gun kept getting caught on my Pandora bracelet! (Isn't my Stella & Dot vintage twist bracelet adorable? Can you tell I am a Stella & Dot stylist? www.stelladot.com/jenniferhunter)

The back of the chair was screwed together, and it came apart in two pieces. Perfect! I covered them both, the same way I did the seat...

Then I screwed them back together and reattached them to the frame of the chair.

My hard work paid off: I am incredibly proud of my new Teacher Chair! I even decorated a bulletin board to coordinate with it :)

Time to Scotch Guard this bad boy!

Okay, I lied. Here is a picture of one of my new curtains. I love them! Would it be weird if I made a matching skirt?