chair makeover

Last year my dad gave me my great grandmother's sewing machine and my grandmother's sewing chair.  The sewing machine is one of those that folds down into a small wooden table.  The table needs some TLC, but is very special nonetheless.  One day in the distant future, the sewing machine table may have its very own makeover blog post, but today it's all about the chair.

The sewing chair has a simple wooden frame with a vinyl covered seat.  As a child I remember thinking this was the coolest chair because the seat came up to reveal my grandmother's sewing treasures...thread, needles, thimbles, and buttons galore.  To me, this was like a top secret hiding place!  Since I have such fond memories of this chair, I decided to give it a makeover.  Believe me, it needed some love!  This chair had been painted day glow yellow and the paint was peeling in many places.  The white vinyl seat cover wasn't too pretty either.  I did take before pictures of the chair before I started this project (2 months ago!) but now I can't find them.  So your imagination will have to help you out here. 

Step one:  used an electric sander to sand away all of the day glow yellow paint

Step two:  painted the chair with two coats of black semi-gloss interior paint

Step three:  recovered the seat with a cute black and white print (okay, so Paul helped with this part since I don't trust myself with a staple gun!)

This project could have been completed in one weekend, but I stretched it out a little longer.  Life happens, you know?  I'm very happy with the end result and have found a perfect home for grandma's chair in Vivi's nursery.  I hope she and Emma Jane will also use it to secretly store their prized possessions one day.