Upholster a Bun Warming Office Chair
Imagine sitting that haggard bum of yours down on a cozy, warm, furry, faux-y, office chair first thing on a cold winter’s morn. It’s like a spa for your hiney. I kid you not, this is one of the best reupholstery ideas I’ve ever had, if I do say so myself.
My $6.99 Goodwill task chair was no reupholstery virgin, mind you. Its’ first makeover was a couple of years ago for one of my IndyStar columns. THIS IS THE VERY REASON WHY YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO UPHOLSTER!. When you tire of your minky, butt-hugging task chair, you can just change the fabric as easy as pie.
And as long as you’re reupholstering one for yourself, why not give the gift of personal craftmanship to your BFF this holiday season? You’ll need some really nice faux fur.
I can’t stand the cheapy stuff that feels stiff and really fake. Hobby Lobby has some nice faux mink, as well as Fabricdirect.com.
Next, take a trip to your local Goodwill to find an inexpensive task chair. They usually have one or two in their furniture corral. Word to the wise: poke and prod around a bit to make sure the inside back (covered with fabric) is not glued to the molded plastic back. You’ll want to be able to pop off that back piece once you remove the hardware.
And, I can’t forget to share this VERY important trick I learned from the uber creative Scoochmaroo, over on Instructables, use a razor, NOT SCISSORS, to cut the base fabric of the faux fur. If you’ve ever tried using scissors with fake, (uh, I mean faux) fur, you know what a tremendous mess you’ll have on your hands. The razor cuts through the backing and not the fur fibers.
Here’s what you need:
Drill or screwdrivers
Possibly Allen wrenches
razor or box cutter
stapler and staples
Nice faux fur
Flat head screwdriver and crescent pliers for old fabric removal
The images are self explanatory. If you have any questions, just post a comment. The FF I used was a brown/purple mix I’ve had on my fabric shelf just waiting for the right project.
There it is. The chair that loves you back every single morning. The entire job took me about an hour and a half at the most.