I LOVE a great reupholstery job.  It’s such a great feeling to see the final product.  There was a time I thought maybe I could reupholster chairs myself, there are all kinds of blogs showing bleak befores and awesome afters.  There are also many youtube videos showing you step by step how to do it and what equipment you need.  And yes, I own said equipment.  If I can watch it on youtube, I can do it.  Right?  I was feeling perplexed and down on myself because guess what, reupholstering (even with all the right equipment) is really freaking hard.  I remember talking to my therapist about it… telling him that I felt like a failure because after watching all the very detailed, step by step instructions I couldn’t do it!  And I should be able to do anything I can watch somebody else do on youtube.  He sat for a minute as I sniffled.  He then started talking about how different people learn in different ways (I heard blah, blah, blah) and not everything is teachable via a video on the internet, sometimes you need hands on training (again blah, blah, blah.)  He looked at me stone faced and asked if I thought a brain surgeon learned his trade on youtube.  Blah, blah, huh?  Silence.  I went from sniffling and upset to doubled over in laughter.  No more upholstery for me!  Unless I go take a course in it, which I HAVE looked into actually.  There is a great upholstery course at California College of the Arts.

Here is a crappy pic of the chair before.  It had it’s day in the 80s.  These chairs had sentimental value to my client and were pretty good quality so we decided to re-upholster them.

We chose a sun-safe fabric which have come a LONG way since they were first introduced.  Never in a million years would I have thought we would be using outdoor fabrics indoors.  Sunsafe fabrics were so bleh, no texture, and they felt icky.  They also were NOT pretty to look at, the colors weren’t subtle and the patterns to choose from were seagulls or beachballs… not very inspiring.  Now I always recommend these types of fabrics on upholstered furniture.  You spend a lot of money on upholstered items be it new or reupholstered.  This stuff should stand up to the sun that comes in our windows, the dogs that live on our sofas and the kids that sneak food out of the kitchen.  And lookit how pretty!  Ignore my messy garage;)

There is contrast piping in a tan ultra suede.  And the pattern matches and flows so perfectly down the chair.

Lookit how beautifully the pattern is centered in the middle of the chair.  We had them done at Kay Chesterfield who always does excellent work.  They are on the pricier side, but perfect!