Happy Wednesday, y’all! I have a long overdue project to share with you today. I mentioned in my home goals post for 2013 that I’m planning to revamp my corner of our home office/creative space to be more functional and {of course} cuter.

The first step to working towards my larger goal was to re-do a cafe chair I rescued from the side of the road. Yes – I’m one of those people. A dumpster diver. I didn’t have to dive for this gem, though. This fella practically had his {her?} thumb out waiting for me to pick it up and give it a little love. At first, I wasn’t sure where it would find its eventual home. I quickly realized that this chair would work perfectly for my desk.

I previously had an ugly, typical office chair on wheels at my desk. It wasn’t the ideal situation. My desk is smaller, so the arms of the chair would bump into and scratch the finish on the desk. This is also where I house my sewing machine, and the arms often got in the way of whatever sewing project I was working on at the time. A typical office chair just didn’t fit the bill for what I really needed, so this find was a perfect fit. It was just hideous.

I know floral prints are supposed to be “in” this year, but I don’t think this is what they’re referring to. I started this rescue by removing the seat and ripping off the old fabric…

…only to discover this lovely patterned vinyl. Jesus take the wheel. It was so bad. It was clearly old, and extremely dirty. So.Gross. I ripped off the vinyl and got rid of the “cushion” inside. I won’t lie, I kinda freaked out the entire time since I had no idea where this thing had been or what critter could be living inside. This also goes to prove that I will go to great lengths for free to cheap DIY projects.

I bought a new piece of foam from Hobby Lobby. I chose a cushion that was slightly larger than the seat base so that I could create the right shape. I used the wood base as a template and cut the excess foam with a serrated bread knife.

My next step was to cover the seat in a layer of batting. I just pulled it tight around the seat and secured with a staple gun.

I did the same thing with this beautiful grey, chevron fabric from Hobby Lobby {the same fabric my sister used on her DIY pin board}. i made sure the pattern was straight on the cushion before and I stapled it to the seat. When re-upholstering an item like this, you want to check your work often to make sure you like the way the pattern is sitting and to make sure you’re pulling it nice and right. Once I was finished securing the fabric, I trimmed the excess as to not have any hanging beneath the chair {not pictured}.

The frame of the chair had some rust spots, and I was wanting a color other than the metallic silver. I used some steel wool to sand down the rust spots a bit, and then did a couple of light coats of spray primer. I chose a metallic gold and gave several light coats.

I’m really happy with how my little chair rescue turned out! I’d say it’s a huge improvement from it’s grimy, sad floral tapestry days.

Now that I’ve got this project knocked out of the way, I’m really looking forward to revamping my little office/sewing corner. I’ll keep you updated as I start making changes!

Have a great day!

I’m linking up at :

I Should Be Mopping The Floor

Be Colorful

C.R.A.F.T.

Skip to My Lou

Somewhat Simple

Thrifty Decor Chick