Recushioned and Unveiled

Well, folks. We done it. After receiving advise from readers, friends and family and making you all wait for nearly two months, we have finally re-cushioned the Mission Rocker that was rescued from the side of the road and we’re ready for the unveiling. But first, the process:

First order of business was to repair some of the bridging to the coils. Most of it just needed a little twist here and there while a couple others needed to be retied. Done.

Then we did a burlap-weave to reinforce the bottom.

We were ready to stuff it (stuff it good!). This was a little tricky for us novices. We wanted to get something firm and protective enough that the coils wouldn’t wear through, but we wanted it to be softer than an ironing board.

Our supplies:

We packed the coils with foam and my husband added layers of firm foam, batting and a final layer of thick cotton, which my hubs heavily tacked to the base. We stepped back with cocked heads for the millionth time to survey our slow progress and hope we weren’t making a mess of this thing (totally flying by the seat of our pants here).

We wanted to stick with the original black leather look for the upholstery. My father-in-law actually had a scrap of it, but it was about 1 square inch too small (which is really unfortunate since that stuff is so damn expensive!). We had to consider our losses (or savings rather) and find something other than leather, so we landed on a sturdy burlap fabric (I love the color!). My guy had a brilliant idea (inspired by one of my favorite tanker chairs) and so we incorporated my pop-in-law’s scrap after all.

And here’s where we cheated the least little bit. My husband gave these two pieces of fabric to a coworker of his who happens to also own a shoe shop. It took him less than a minute to sew what would have taken us forever (we don’t have a sewing machine). So be it.

We got the fabrics back, sewn perfectly together and then my number one went back to business and combined his present wrapping skills (actually, he doesn’t have those) with his hospital bed precision to start tacking and folding the corners. Things were going well…

…but, keeping the sewn seam lined up straight was a daymare, while getting those corners taught was nearly impossible. We managed to get it close enough to move on, and then this happened:

SPLIT (that’s an expletive)! With all the pulling and prodding, there went our $3 seam job (there’s a cutting corners lesson in there somewhere, but I don’t have the tolerance for it right now). So we were forced to pull out the ol’ needle, thread (and wrench) after all. My husband mickey moused the rip and completed the line so it matched throughout the length. It’s not as pretty as it was before, but we kind of like the rustic look. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

 

So now we’re done, both because there really isn’t anything else we could (or knew how to) do, but also because we were the teensiest bit over it. Even so, I think it looks pretty smashing all the same (my husband gets all the props).

Here’s how much this fine piece of furniture ended up costing us:

1. Chair                    $0 (side of the road)
2. Sand Paper         $3 (estate sale)
3. Stain                    $0 (father-in-law)
4. Burlap Strips     $0 (had on hand)
5. Coil Foam          $2 (thrift store)
6. Foam Padding   $17.99 (JoAnns)
7. Batting                $8 (JoAnns)
8. Cotton                 $7 (JoAnns)
9. Burlap                 $6.99 (eBay)
10. Leather               $0 (father-in-law)
11. Sewing Fee        $3 (colleague’s shoe shop)
12. Tacks                  $4

Total Cost = $51.98 – Not bad for an antique chair that was going to the dump!

So there it is. At least it’s good enough to temporarily fool any guest’s rear. Not sure we’ll jump to do that again anytime soon.