Save it Don’t Toss it!

January 26, 2011 at 7:25 am | Posted in furniture | 60 Comments
Tags: arlington armchair, cotton duck chair, recovering a chair, repholstery

The day we closed on our home last spring my husband and I stopped at our local Salvation Army to waste some time before our appointment to sign the papers.

We spotted a chair that looked super comfy but another person was circling around it. There was no price tag on it and the other person very rudely asked an employee what the price was. The employee promptly told her $75.00 and the customer quickly said no because of the high price and walked away. Immediately the employee said to us, I’ll give it to you for $30.00, I just didn’t like how rude that lady was, do you want it? Ummm duh! Sold! Score us for rude people!

Here’s a picture of our comfy but ugly chair.

(Chair Before)

It’s sat in our living room looking ugly for months. I knew I wanted to use it in the living room but had no idea what I wanted to do with it because I didn’t know how I wanted to decorate the room.

Honestly, I’m still not really sure what I want to do in our living room but got tired of looking at the ugly chair so I played it safe and had it re-covered in off-white cotton duck. Neutral works, the chair can be moved to all of our rooms, a new pillow or new throw and the chair looks totally different!

(Chair After)

A little bit of information for you, recovered and reupholstery are 2 different things. Recovered is when the inside and frame of the chair is in good condition and the fabric is replaces. Reupholstery is when new webbing, springs or fillings need to be replaced.

I am beyond happy with how the chair turned out. I think re-doing furniture is such an incredible skill and craft to have and if you get someone good to finish your furniture I guarantee your piece will look so much better then a piece just bought from a store.

Another benefit of saving your piece of furniture it’s usually cheaper then buying a new chair.

This arlington armchair from Pottery Barn is over $1,100.00.

(Pottery Barn chair)

My chair looks pretty similar and I paid less then $500.00 for the chair, fabric and to have it recovered.

So next time you’re sick of a piece of furniture save it don’t toss it!