After a lot of searching, I found some heavy weight lavender fabric (it wasn't actually upholstery fabric) on ebay. I used most of it for the chair upholstery, and I'll use what's left for the bedskirt on LMS's bed since this chair is going into her room.
Because this chair is going into LMS's room, it won't be seen by many people, so it was the ideal first-time reupholstering project :)
There are definitely some things I'll be more aware of on the other chairs I need to do (I have 3 more waiting to be given new life), but I'm very happy with how this chair turned out.
I thought the red incarnation of the chair was very stiff and hard, so I softened the lines on the arms and didn't use as much piping. I think it looks much more suited for a little girl's room.
My favorite detail? (and LMS's too!)
Aren't these rosettes the perfect girly touch? Love them!
I read reupholstering and piping tutorials here, here, and here, took lots of pictures as I took it all apart (for reference when putting it back together), then just winged it from there. I did have to replace the foam seat cushion because the original one was all hard and petrified and crumbling to dust (sooo gross!), but other than that, it was a pretty straight forward project.
I really enjoyed the process- thinking through where to put the seams, what order to do the panels, etc. It was a creative process that was a lot of fun for me. Ten years of mental fog made it extremely difficult to be creative, so I am just loving the opportunity to be creative and to feel creative. I missed that part of me and it's so nice to have it back.
Altogether, I spent about $60 for a custom upholstered chair for LMS's room. If I'd bought a coordinating chair at PBK, I would have spent at least $300. I'm very happy I found a fabric that coordinates with her room, and once I finish decorating her room I'll post pictures of her room. I've got the biggest project done, so it shouldn't take me too much longer to finish.
