Reader Redesign: Take A Load Off
Alison’s gorgeous chair makeover had us green with envy. We love that she noticed the stellar lines of these formerly mediocre pieces and transformed them in a big way. Here’s her letter:
I thought I’d send over the before and afters of a pair of awesome chairs that I got at an estate sale for $5 each and repainted, recovered, and now have in our living room! I saw one of the chairs first, liked it, was interested, walked away, and found another tucked away in the attic of the house. Half price on everything — SOLD! I got them home, dusted them off and spray painted them with some Satin Black spray paint and was off to find some fabric! I live near Minneapolis, MN and there is this awesome little fabric store hidden away called Crafty Planet and they had just what I was looking for: zebra animal print in my favorite yellowish green color. A few staples later and I had myself a set of awesome awesome chairs! Hope you enjoy! I sure am. Love the blog! -Alison
Isn’t that one fabulous double chair makeover? You can’t beat the DIY affordability- and they look like a million bucks! Thanks so much for sending the lovely and inspiring photos our way Alison! And if anyone needs a chair upholstery lesson here’s the play by play.
Leave a comment
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
wow that is amazing! i love the ransformation.
Holy cow! These are gorgeous! Seriously green with envy!
Wow – that really is an incredible transformation. Very insipiring to keep my eye out for good deals like that. Thanks for sharing!
AMAZING! I love it!
Those chairs are fabulous now. LOVE them!
Love the curvy lines of the backs, and they look so great freshened up!
All I can say is WOW….GREAT JOB! :) I’m a wee bit jealous :)
LOVE IT!!! And thanks, Alison, for giving us the Crafty Planet resource– I’ve just spent half an hour on their website looking at fabrics!
What a wonderful transformation! The lines on those chairs are indeed great – and I can’t believe she got them for $5 each. What luck!
Those look gorgeous. The woodwork is amazing. And $5 each?! I want to run out and hunt for some myself. Bravo!
The chairs are so much fun now! Great job. I’m from Minneapolis and looking for some awesome fabric for curtains. I’ll have to check out this Crafty Planet. Thanks!
These are beautiful! I was recently given an old wingback chair (can’t beat free!) for which I have high hopes. I’d like to paint the wood black and upholster it with a rich microsuede fabric, but upholstering a whole wingback chair seems a lot more intimidating than upholstering a cushion. Any advice? Or should I just turn it over to a professional?
Hey Sugar Cookie,
Beyond upholstering a seat cushion you’ll probably need to do some heavy duty research. We would probably call on a professional, but the good news is the chair was free so it’s still a heckuva deal.
xo,
s
Gorgeous!!!
These are so cute!
Awesome job on the chairs Alison. I have an old chair that I plan on transforming myself…thanks for the inspiration!
These are AWESOME!! I cannot believe that they were $5 each!! Now I’m green with envy too. ;) I hope to find something similar, but many of the estate sales in my area ask far too much for items. Congrats to them-love the zebra fabric too!
Hey Alison –
Wanted to give a shout-out to a fellow Minneapolitan! (I’m in Minnetonka) …you did an amazing job! I love Crafty Planet also.
AMAZING!!! The chairs look awesome!!!
Those are fantastic!! Great job, Alison! I’m really loving the zebra print.
Love love love. Especially the fabric choice. Thanks for sharing!
those are amazing!!! great job!
Why can’t I ever find $5 chairs like that?!?! They are gorgeous. What a wonderful DIY project. Yea for zebra print :O)
Gorgeous! It’s amazing what paint and fabric can do for a piece of furniture. Great job!
The picture’s not showing up for me…sad.
Great job Alison- They look like expensive designer chairs now!
Those are AWESOME! Great find, and great redesign! I also live in Minneapolis so now I’m going to have to check out Crafty Planet!
this is an amazing transforming – makes me want to go chair hunting!!!
These chairs are gorgeous!! They would sell for hundreds…
Love them! I’m so inspired by many of the things here, yet every time I go to an estate sale or antique shop, there’s nothing but junk. :(
Great work!!
Okay, I officially need to haul rear over to Crafty Planet; if I can pull off something even half as cool as these, I’m ready for a furniture make-over too!
I’d love to know the best way to find out about estate sales! Any resources for the MD area that you know of (or super-fantabulous ones in VA that are worth the drive)?
What a lovely transformation.
Wow – they look amazing! I’m totally considering recovering our dining room chairs… just gotta convince the Mister, first.
AND I’m getting ready to “re-do” some candle holders tonight/this weekend. I’ll let you knwo hwo they turn out and if I am brave enough to conquer the lamps, too. Eek!!
Five itty-bitty dollars apiece?? Those chairs are gorgeous, and I love the updated look that the upholstery and paint gave them. Soooo nice!
Wow – love them! Awesome job!
Wow! Amazing makeover! I love these before and after shots :)
Loves it! I wish I could find awesome stuff like that at thrift stores hahaha.
Love them! Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing this redesign…great motivater to try this myself sometime!
Those chairs are so goregeous!! I wish I had them!
Wow, Alison! Those look fantastic. Straight out of Ballard Designs, but about $300 LESS per chair! :) You rocked it.
Beautifully done! I wish I had an eye for that kind of thing.
LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. Wow, what a transformation & a bargain as well! Fantastic!
Totally jealous that Alison scored those chairs for only 5 bucks a piece! Great transformation.
Amazing! I generally think a little animal print goes a long way, so a side chair is prefect. And the colors – really great contrast.
I’ve seen a lot of interesting chairs on craigslist lately…
Just stumbled upon your blog via Coco+Kelley, and I can already tell that I’m going to enjoy reading along. Cheers!
INCREDIBLE! I love the before and after!!! :) Crafty Planet is my FAVORITE fabric store! :) For $5 a piece… that beats going out for dinner!!!
Those are DE-licious! Great work Alison!!
Love the transformation! I’m working on one myself. I hope I can find something similar for $5!!!!
Wowza, I would have passed out at the amazing-ness of those chairs, even before the makeover! Alison, you did a wonderful job!
Wow – I love them.
I have an old chair that had been left in my cousins house when she purchased it recently. My mother took one, and I have the other. My cousin was about to put it out on the skip with other bits that had been left, but I fell in love. It desperatly needs recovering and re-painting (it smells really old and dusty). I have dusted it down, and vacuumed it for now. It’s sitting proudly in my hallway, where I am leaving it until I feel inspiration as to what to do to it!!
Yours are fantastic.