Trash to Treasure Desk Chair

I am so excited for this project!  I wasn't crazy about the desk chair that is in my room so I've been playing around with this idea for a little while now.  I've mentioned before that I'm obsessed with HGTV and Nate Berkus and one of the things I watch them do allll the time is reupholster things and make it look so easy.

I will admit that this was not my first time doing this so I did have an idea that it was doable.  Last summer I did a similar project.  I decided to take apart my desk chair and cover it with grey polka dot fabric.  It was pretty easy and since all I did was staple the fabric over top of the current fabric it was completely non permanent.

So fast forward to this morning.  I was in Philly for the weekend and on a whim I decided to check craigslist for a cheap chair.  I found one for $5 that was still available.  Sweet.  Next I headed over to fabric row (which happened to be walking distance from where I was) and found exactly what I had in mind, but it was $15 a yard which was a little more than I wanted to spend so I kept walking around.  I ended up going back because I really did want it and the chair was only $5 so I figured could swing the $14.  The fabric is a grey and white chevron thick canvas material.  It's seems really durable and great for a chair.  So as she cuts it she finds a "spot" and says she'll take $10 for it if I'm ok with the "spot"!!!  I say "spot" because for the life of me I really can't find a spot anywhere.

Picked up my $5 chair on the way home.

Now for the fun part.  I used a power screwdriver and took off the seat and arms and the back part just snapped off.  The front part wasn't removable.

Next I laid the pieces down on my fabric and just out around them.  I wasn't all that careful because the back of the pieces aren't going to be seen so they didn't need to be pretty.  (Note the paws of my helper in this picture...as soon as you lay anything down on the floor she wants to lay down on it.)

Now the next part I only did because I purchased this chair.  To make sure that the fabric contours to the chair nicely, I sprayed the pieces with spray adhesive and smoothed down the fabric.  (If you want this to be non permanent, don't do this part).  Then I just used a staple gun to staple down the edges.  For the curved back piece, I couldn't staple into it so I just used spray adhesive for the whole thing and it worked great.

These four pieces I did like this and then I just did the same thing on the seat part that wouldn't come off the chair.

Next all I had to do was screw the pieces all back together.  This was really the most difficult part of the whole project, and it wasn't really all that hard.  So that's really it!  

And the finished product is this beauty...

And here's the before and after just to compare.  The plastic chair parts are still grey too, it just looks a little dark in the picture.  It looks really nice with the fabric.  

For $15 I am seriously so in love with this chair.  I want to just sit in it all day.  And just for fun, here's a close-up of the fabric to show off how pretty it is. :)