Un-Upholstering a Parsons Chair (in which I try to imitate Restoration Hardware and basically succeed)

May 15, 2013 by Anne 18 Comments

This is the story of a chair.

This chair lived a long, full life (I presume).

Unfortunately, someone thought that this chair had outrun its usefulness and had tossed it atop our apartment dumpster.

Perhaps they discarded this guy because of the multiple tears and general disintegration of the fake leather. Or perhaps the were bothered by the seams that were splitting left and right. Or maybe the got sick of the scratched up wood legs.

I know. I can’t see it either. OF COURSE I had to get that chair out of said dumpster.

So I did, much to Ken’s chagrin (duh; the man rather dislikes when I do stuff like this). But this was back in the day before we were married…so somehow, that makes it better. Right?

Since my dramatic rescue of this chair, it has lived in our garage gathering dust and acting as a pretty good shelf for our Christmas decorations. But the time came for it’s second life, so I hauled it out and dusted it off and did this.

It was a messy, tricky, tetanus-inducing business. There were rusty staples EVERYWHERE in this chair. My poor fingers will never be the same.

Through the power of the internet, this multiple hour process is nicely reduced to 4 pictures. Here’s what all of my hard work ended with:

It’s a beauty, right? Just the look I was going for.

Restoration Hardware has a pretty, um, unique line of furniture called the “Deconstructed Uphostery Collection” where they make furniture but leave off the final layer of fabric. On purpose.

Source

Can you see the vision I had yet? Pretty sure I basically nailed this one.

Except that I’m not Restoration Hardware and am absolutely not cool enough (nor do I have enough confidence) to pull off the deconstructed upholstery look. Let’s not even get into what Ken would say had I actually voiced aloud my plans.

Needless to say, I am now scouring the fabric stores around me for the perfect print (or two) that doesn’t break the bank. Home decor fabric is expensive, unless you’re willing to sacrifice your morals and go with something on clearance like this.

Ken might be a bit too excited about this option. Wish me luck.

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