street find turned sweet find

I know most of you remember the Saarinen chair I found in the streets of Jersey City last year and I already gave you a little peek of the finished chair on Instagram. Here is the story how I found it. P and I were on our way to visit friends to have a spontaneous bbq last summer, on our way we stopped at a liquor store to pick up some beer. While I was waiting outside the store with our bikes I spotted the chair about half a block away. It got me so excited but I was also afraid somebody else would snatch it up before I could get to it. Luckily nobody did and I grabbed it. I pushed my bike with one hand and the chair with the other to our friends place which was only one or two blocks away. I made a happy dance when I found out the Knoll tag was still in place and also found a Met Life Insurance Co. inventory sticker underneath the seat as well. Somebody was probably sitting in this chair working on insurance claims, or selling insurance or something like that. In September I started my second upholstery class and it was finally time to work on the chair. When I took off the old vinyl fabric I got hit by a mildewy smell, the chair must have been sitting out in the rain and the foam never dried completely for a long time. So I did what everybody in my situation would do and soaked the backrest and seat in a water and bleach solution in our tub, as well as one round in a vinegar and water solution and let it air dry in the sun. After the pieces were dry they didn't smell anymore and the re-upholstery could begin. Unfortunately I didn't finish the chair in the last class but I started another class in February and last week I finally finished it. Love how it turned out, it is such a big departure from the sad ripped and somewhat flesh colored chair I started with.

Have a great weekend my friends! I have some more painting planned for this weekend (bar cart and side table), I am on a roll right now and need to take advantage of it to get as much done as possible. There will be times ahead when I do not feel like doing much on the weekends. On Sunday I will be visiting a friend in Connecticut I haven't seen in forever. Looking forward to a fun weekend. Do you have any plans?

who's next?

Yesterday my upholstery course started again and I almost finished the chartreuse Saarinen chair so I have to bring a new project to class with me next Thursday. Here is a round of the chairs that are sitting in our basement and are waiting for a makeover. I think I can handle the orange chair by myself, as I would only have to wrap the fabric around the seat and back cushion, staple it in place and call it a day. Of the first chair I have three and thought I could upholster two in black leather and one with a colorful print. Marimekko , maybe? For the second chair I am not sure what fabric to pick. I still have enough of the chartreuse bouclé fabric to use on this chair. Chair number three also could possibly be a project I could tackle on my own. Argh, I am so indecisive but I think I have narrowed the choices down to the first two chairs. What do you think? Who's next in line for getting a makeover?

Are you having Monday (President's Day) off like me? What are your plans for the (long) weekend? I am planning to work on some house projects and also use a day to hang out on the couch to enjoy that we got free HBO for a couple of months. I hope you will enjoy your weekend too!

woman vs second chair - half time

Back in September I mentioned that I was going to take another upholstery class starting in October and now it is nearing its end. There are only two more classes and then my chair needs to be finished because I don't want to wait for the next class to start in the spring. As a little reminder this is what I started with. So far I have ripped off all the foam, bleached the hell out of the seat and backrest. The dark spots you can still see is glue residue where I couldn't get it off. I have cut my foam to size and on Saturday I sewed the fabric pieces together, again with the help of a friends mother. On Thursday I need to glue the foam to the seat and the backrest and then the stapling can begin. The stapling is the most fun part of the process and because P knows how much I love doing it, he gave me a gift card for an air compressor for my birthday in August. I still have to pick out one though. For Christmas I am wishing for the matching staple guns. Aww, this man knows how to make his woman happy! And I have five more chair projects in the basement I can use the new equipment for...

Is anyone besides me working on a DIY project right know? 

 

woman vs chair - round 9

I did it! The chair is finished, I am sitting on it and writing this post. It is so comfortable but I might be biased after fighting with it for nine rounds. I'm even jumping for joy :) Can you believe that in mid-February the chair still looked like this?

Did you finish a project that made you really happy lately?

woman vs chair - round 8

Last week I managed to staple the seat cushion and some loose bits of fabric on the backrest. The only thing left to do is to add the finishing touches. First I will have to add a dust cover under the seat cushion which will hide the wood and cover the uneven edge of the fabric. Also I will be adding more grey fabric to the underside of the backrest, so all exposed parts will be covered. Can't wait to attach the legs and admire the finished chair...and of course sit in it.

woman vs chair - round 7

The last round was all about finishing the backside of the backrest. I used a flexible metal strip (ply grip) and stretched the fabric over the little teeth, trimmed the access and folded everything over. Than I gave it a little whack with a hammer to ensure everything was tightly folded over (as seen in the 5th photo). Next step is finishing the seat cushion and polishing the legs...

woman vs chair - round 6

Another successful round in the fight woman versus chair. Last Thursday I was able to start stapling the fabric for the backrest back onto the chair. It involved using a pneumatic staple gun. So much fun! Next Thursday I have to attach the fabric on the backside of the backrest with an invisible tack strip. Not sure what the professional name for this strip is but I will find out on Thursday. Hopefully I'll be able to work on the seat as well. Anyways the chair is coming together nicely...

woman vs chair - round 5

As mentioned in my previous post I lost the last round against my chair but my inner Tim Gunn was telling me to make it work. So I packed my sewing machine and drove over to a friends place and let her mom guide me through the sewing part. Under her guidance I pinned and sewed all the pieces together myself. Unfortunately we couldn't get the lower thread on my machine to work properly so we had to use her machine, I need to read the manual for my machine and figure it out later. Phew! I did it! And it wasn't even as hard as I thought. On Thursday I will start stapling the fabric back onto the chair and as long as I did my sewing correctly it should be smooth sailing from here. Guess I will find out on Thursday...

For the photos I just put the sewn fabric loosely over the plywood pieces just to give me an idea what the chair will look like once it is finished. It is not looking too bad actually. Can't wait to sit in it!

woman vs chair - round 4

The chair finally did it and knocked me out during last weeks class. I had trouble piecing the pieces back together because the lineup marks I made didn't line up. Weirdly enough they matched the original marks and the original pieces fit together perfectly. Argh! I guess it was because the old fabric was stretched out pretty badly. So last Thursday I only accomplished to pin the back and front pieces for the backrest together. If I'd been a contestant on Project Runway Heidi Klum would have sent me packing with her You're out! Auf Wiedersehen! But I had my trusty Tim Gunn (aka our upholstery instructor) at my side that kept telling me to make it work...So there is hope for the next round.

woman vs chair - round 3

My class last Thursday was actually pretty fun because I started to cut the new fabric I'm going to use to reupholster my chair. I cut out all the pieces needed and want to start pinning them together to start sewing. The first cut was pretty hard because I worried too much about wasting fabric but I ended up not even using half of the fabric I bought. There is enough left for a second chair, which I need to hunt down somewhere in the depths of the internet or our basement...

woman vs chair - round 2

I had my second upholstery class session last Thursday and glued some foam back to the backrest and also took apart the old fabric to create my pattern. The pattern part is a little bit scary to me and although I wanted to start with it right away after the class I chickened out. Argh, I need to get started tomorrow so I have at least a little bit of progress to show on Thursday. After Thursday hopefully it's time for sewing, by then the chair probably will gain strength and win at least one round...

woman vs chair - round 1

My upholstery class started on Thursday and I stripped my chair down to the bones. The foam underneath was rotten in some parts and crumbled right off the frame. Next step is taking apart the fabric cover and create a pattern for the new fabric. After that I have to start sewing the pieces back together, which will probably be the hardest part for me...

Update will follow next week!

woman vs chair

Tomorrow I will start my very first upholstery class and I am already super excited. 

I found the side chair by Eero Saarinen for Knoll a while back on ebay and was able to get it for a great price. It looks much better in photos than it does in real life. The fabric is stained and ripped in some places and it makes a crunchy sound when you sit on it. Wonder what kind of grossness I will discover when taking the old fabric off. The new fabric will be Knoll Classic Bouclé in the color smoke, another great ebay find. You can see a sample of it in the last picture. So far I have only spend about a quarter of what a brand new chair would cost and that is including the upholstery class, which will also come in handy for future projects. I probably have to pay the rest in blood, sweat and tears...

Will it be woman versus chair or chair versus woman? Either way let the battle begin...