You too can pimp your chair...

It seems I'm not the only one with an ugly glider in need of a little face lift. I don't have time to write a full blown tutorial on the process, but I will give you a few tips. OK?

First you need one ugly chair.

Check.

If your behind has the impression of springs after sitting in your ugly chair (like mine did) you may need to replace the cheap thin floppy foam. I bought a piece of 3 inch foam for the seat and 2 inch foam for the back.

Remove the old foam from the cover (just rip the seam open) and trace around it on the new foam.

The best tool for cutting foam is an electric carving knife. A very sharp serrated knife should work too.
After you cut your new cushions, make a pattern for the new covers by tracing around them- either on paper or directly onto the back of your fabric. Trace about 1/2 inch away from the cushion for seam allowances. For the seat I made a gusseted cover with a zipper in the back. The back cover consists of the front piece and back piece with piping between, no gusset and instead of a zipper, I hand stitched the opening closed after the foam was inserted. Since I didn't use a gusset for the back cushion, added an inch all the way around when cutting out the fabric instead of 1/2 inch.

I covered the foam with a layer of polyester quilt batting to soften the edges before putting the covers on.

The arms had pads that snapped into place in the seat and along the side of the chair. (In the before photo, I see that I didn't have the arm pads snapped in place along the sides- they shouldn't look all loose and floppy like that) My original plan was to just cover the existing pads, with a rectangle of fabric- much like a pillow case with the end stitched closed,  but how to keep them in place was the problem. My first attempt was to attach tabs with button holes to one end, sew buttons on the other end, wrap the pad around the arm of the chair and join it with the buttons.  I'm sure that doesn't make a bit of sense to you. I have no idea how to describe it so that it is clear. It really doesn't matter though, because that method didn't work. I grabbed my scissors and my much used, much loved stapler and improvised.

First I stapled the pad to the bottom of the seat.

Then I pulled it up and over the arm, estimated how much would be needed to tuck under the arm and cut off the rest, pad and all- then stapled it to the underside of the arm.

You can see in the above photo where the original pad would have snapped in place on the frame of the chair.

Another view. Not perfect, but a solution I can live with.

The ottoman was simple, it's just covered with fabric that is pulled taught and stapled to the underside.

Bayleigh and I are very happy with our pimped-out craigslist glider.

Comments

[Shayla]

Wow, thanks for the guidance! I might be brave enough to try this now!

[Bridgette]

You rock Grandma! What a lucky family you have.

[méri]

:) Always generous!
Thanks for sharing. It seems easy in your hands...

[Sue]

Gorgeous! I have a glider that the dog at the seat cushion out of. I keep putting off redoing it as I'm not too confident, but I think I'll give it a go using some of your tips. Thanks!

[Tara]

That looks phenomenal!

[mystele]

ok, this is too funny! just a few minutes ago, i was going to write you and ask if you'd share how you did this! i opened up bloglines and here it is! thanks a lot! i have a glider that needs help now that my kids are bigger. they've stained it all up! this'll be fun to try.

[carmell]

can you come do my couch!!!! i wish i could do that kind of stuff

[Margot]

Wow! I'm so impressed! I'm glad you bought yours on Craigslist, there are always SO many available and people still pay up the wazoo for ugly new ones? I don't get that! Yours is really quite beautiful!

[v & co]

haha! "first you need one ugly chair" check...love it!

[joyce]

wow, what a wonderful transformation! Thank you for sharing all the how-tos.

[Kristin]

GORGEOUS. :)

I'm all into redoing furniture lately. So many ideas going through my head! :) Thanks for the inspiration on this one!

[Wylie]

Absolutely beautiful, Autum! A beautiful throne for a beautiful grandmother and her darling granddaughter! Happy 40th Birthday!

[fiona]

oh my lord! i love it ! i want one! thanks for the instructions:)

[Kelly]

This is so great. My husband just got rid of my glider after it had sat out in the garage for 2 years. If only I had seen this in time. Maybe I'll just have to get another;)

[Maureen]

Beautiful! Wow. That is a great looking chair. I love the fabrics you selected.

[Momma Pajama]

Hey, I did this same project a few weeks ago (my chair fabric is much mellower tho!). Love craigslist, don't you? Great tutorial, thanks!

http://momma-pajama.blogspot.com/2008/07/projects-which-passed-finish-line.html

[amy]

i have this same chair that i hate to part with, but it is so ugly! this is just the boost i needed to recover it. i may try to paint the wood, too!

[Faith]

Great job Autum! What a beautiful chair to rock little Bayleigh to sleep in.

[Hannah]

Oh my goodness I love it.

[upstatelisa]

WOW~ I have my old glider and ottoman downstairs getting really dirty in the basement. I really wanted to this to mine but I never did. Now seeing yours, i just might try it!!!!

[Karen aka Grammy Mac]

Absolutely beautiful!!!!!!! I love the fabric combo;)

[[email protected]]

That's a pretty awesome redo.

[Dana]

I was just getting ready to put my ugly chair out front with a free sign on it. I just had to read this, ugh! Now I want to "pimp my chair". I need another project like I need a hole in the head. Your chair turned out beautiful

But of course, nothing compares to that cute, sweet, perfect, little baby.

[penny]

that is awesome, GREAT JOB!

[dawn]

How stinkin' cute is that chair? Really...Love, love, love it!