Cane Chair is Finished!

Well, not completely.  I just need to touch up the paint in a few places and she's done.  I think all in all the cane chair looks alright. I haven't played with styling it with a cute pillow or it's placement in the family room because I don't love this chair. I love the look I was going for but the mistakes I made drive me crazy (and I'm probably crazy because I don't think most people would notice them).

I really dragged my feet with getting this chair done.  I wanted it to be perfect and that mindset was totally unrealistic for my first real upholstery project.  The inevitable first timer errors derailed me but the last few weeks I've been working hard at purging things from the house and well, this is one of the items.  This chair isn't going to Goodwill but to a really good home, my sisters!  I'll share a picture of what it looks like in her space -- she's got more of modern vibe going on at her place.

Oh, I've got a few tips on upholstering furniture yourself to any newbies out there:

If it's a really good piece of furniture and you can afford it, get it PROFESSIONALLY upholstered.

I don't even want to figure out how much I spent on trying to upholster this myself. I had bought new foam (which can be really $$) that I cut incorrectly and so I ended up having to make do with the original foam.  It took me several attempts to cut the fabric the right size so I had to buy more fabric than intended.  The trim was really hard for me to make using the seat and back fabric -- it was too thick and my sewing machine needle kept getting stuck even though I adjusted the tension. I ended up having to buy thin cotton fabric to make the trim.  I got a quote from an upholsterer who would have charged me $100 for this chair. That's a steal based on my research and I probably spent that much trying to do this myself. The one thing that I'm really happy about is my paint job. Maybe I should stick to painting furniture.

Stick to upholstery projects that are easy -- no sewing involved and no having to staple in hard to reach places.

I apologize for not having pictures to illustrate what I'm referring to, but this chair has a grove that runs along the entire perimeter of the attached seat and back where the staples should be placed.  Without a professional upholstery gun, it's impossible to get the staples to go in there with a regular gun so my staples are all over the place. Sure my trim covers them up but I know the trim isn't completely level since I had to maneuver it around to hide the staples.

staples all over the place

Sewing the cushion was tough. I had to slip stich the front seam of the cushion and my sewing skills are less than stellar. The seam is crooked and I poked my fingers so many times that I bled on the fabric and had to wash it. Another quick tip: buy a THIMBLE.

If you're determined to tackle intricate upholstery projects, buy one of those fancy air guns.

Even though this chair was hard as heck to complete I find myself surfing CL now and then for potential projects. I've seen antique chairs with great lines that would be absolutely stunning reupholstered.  I haven't bought a pneumatic gun because I don't have the funds to spend on something I'm not going to use that often and I'm undecided on whether I'll try to save to have a pro do the job.

So, just a refresher of what the chair looked like before:

And after ALOT of TLC: