Hints for Recovering a Wingback Chair

 

When Cassity asked me to write a post for Remodelaholic, I had to pinch myself. I have been blogging for less than a year and my posts are scattered at that. Diffendwelling is my way of paying back all the other amazing bloggers out there who share their project how-tos and a little bit of their life along the way. So without further ado, here’s a glimpse into one of my (semi) recent projects:

 

I’ve always had a thing for wing chairs. There’s something so stately and timeless about them. So when I got the urge to put a new chair in my living room, I knew exactly what I wanted- a wing chair.

 

Being married to a medical school student, I knew that I was going to have to make this happen on the cheap. My initial thought: slip covering …then I realized that I don’t really sew well and most slip covers I have seen don’t make my heart skip a beat. So I (without the slightest idea of where to begin) decided that I was going to teach myself to reupholster. I learned completely via blogs and YouTube. You can find all the links I used on my site.

 

Because I usually scroll down to see the “after” photo, I’ll spare you the agony. Here’s the finished product:

 

 

It all started with this $20 find from a local resale store:

 

 

 

From there, I completely stripped the chair down to the bare bones.

You can read about it here:

 

 

It was just like peeling an onion, each piece layered behind another. I made sure to number all of my pieces in the order that I took them off (which was amazingly helpful for the reupholstering part). I also did everything I could to keep what I removed in tact.

 

Once everything was removed, I began with the last piece that I removed, laid it on top of my new fabric to use as a template, traced it(as in the picture below), and stapled it into place onto the chair.  I continued to do that, working backward, using my number system.

 

 

Oh, and I made some piping, using a zipper foot (and broke about 10 sewing machine needles in the process).

 

Do you recognize that fabric from somewhere? It’s Pottery Barn’s Simone print. But I found it’s actual name (Lutron Vintage) and got it for $10 less a yard than PB was selling it for.  (You can get the full how-to on this here.)    And after more tracing and cutting and a whole bunch of staples later (and soliciting my grandma to make the cushion cover for me), I had the finished product.

 

For your viewing pleasure, my wing chair:

 

 Wally tested, Wally approved.