$4 Chair Re-Do

One day I was shopping the 50% off sale at the Goodwill for some clothes for my son when I saw a chair that the lady in front of me in line had picked up.

It wasn’t in the best shape but I thought, hmmmm I bet I could really revamp that chair.

So I got out of line (which isn’t easy to do during a Saturday 50% off sale!!) and went to see if they had any more.

They didn’t have any more of that one, but I found one even better!

It was marked at $7.99, but because of the sale I loaded this baby in my truck for only 4 bucks!

I started by flipping it over and unscrewing the seat.

I then ran a quick sand over the entire chair. One thing I’m awful at is doing a really thourough sanding job.

I usually just aim to get the gloss off, unless it is a high traffic piece that get used a lot.

I’m not sure if the dry time between coats is fully necessary, but that’s how it worked out for me since I was doing this project during the week after my little bean’s bedtime.

In areas that I wanted more brown to show through, I applied more pressure.

I finished it up by applying a coat of polycrylic.

Word of caution on this! I think I was slopping this on too thick because I ended up with yellow residue in some areas.

I didn’t run into this issue when I used this same can for my kitchen chairs and an entertainment center, so I’m not sure if I just got careless or maybe this stuff isn’t good as it gets old.

If this does happen to you, you can just lightly sand it off.

To recover the seat, I began by applying a piece of wood to the bottom so that the staple gun would have something to latch on to.

I used a left over plank from my planked wall project, but you could also use a couple of paint sticks.

I used hot glue but it didn’t hold really well. The first time I sat on the finished chair I heard it fall off! It’s still held together just fine since it’s already screwed on to the chair, but I would recommend using a stronger adhesive such as GOOP or liquid nails.

I then laid the seat on about 4 layers of batting, folded it up and stapled it to the wooden plank.

I did the same thing with the material.

Then I just popped the screws back in to finish it up.

I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking 🙂

The material looks like high end upholstery, you would never guess I found it at Walmart for $4 a yard.

I hope everyone has a very very Merry Christmas–I’ll be back next week!

Linking up to these awesome parties!

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($4 Chair Re-Do)