Saturday, February 23, 2013

How did I do it? {Altering a chair frame!}

Two days ago, I revealed my Anthropologie-Inspired Chair overhaul! 
{You can see the post here}

 From This:                                 To this:

So, how did I do it?
Honestly? I have no clue.
That being said, this is definitely not a tutorial. 

The first thing I attempted to do was change the arms. 
Looking at my inspiration (The Anthropologie Astrid Chair), it is obvious that the arms do not slope upwards, as the original chair's arms did.



 So, I simply cut them off! 




Next, I cut off the back of the frame, and added tubes on the arms to make them round.
The arms are actually made from mailing tubes.
I didn't take a picture in between these two, but under the tubes, I put in the original arms for more strength.


I wanted the front legs to look more like those of the Astrid Collection.
Searching through my garage, I found the perfect solution: The legs of an old table. 


I then cut out the center section and added some old little wheels that I found in my garage!
Problem solved!


Next up was the back of the seat.
This was relatively simple. I cut a thick piece of plastic in the shape of the chair back. 
This was stapled to the top of the original chair back, and some 2x2s. 



Next I took some thin boards and covered the sides and back.
(And broke out the duck tape...)
Voila! New frame nearly complete!


After adding foam to the back, I simply covered the entire chair with two layers of quilt batting.



The chair was completed by painting the legs with a coat of gold paint, and finishing off the upholstery. 

 Tada!


 Chair reveal found here!
Thanks for reading! All comments are loved and appreciated! 

6 comments:

  1. Wow, this is absolutely incredible! You're a genius!! Awesome job!

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  2. I just have to say, this is very impressive! I'm an upholsterer and happened across this on a google search-and I can't get over your ingenuity. Great Job yo!

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  3. Wow, I never would have thought of how to change the whole look of the chair frame to get the kind of chair I wanted. You are some sort of DIY genius! I just can't get over this! Thanks for sharing.

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  4. this is amazing. i have been shy about doing this, though I felt it would work so well. thanks so much for posting this!!! i am heading home tonight and cutting up my side chair i've been keeping for this very thing!!!

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  5. One of the best chair makeovers I've ever seen! Bravo!

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  6. I found this post through the post on Apartment Therapy. Frankly, I'm surprised that you don't have 5 million comments. I agree, this is pure genius.

    DIY re/upholstering things, always seemed like such a daunting task. Thanks to you, I'm not so afraid of trying it anymore!

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Hey, you! Thanks for commenting! They always make my day!