Guestie: Design, Dining + Diapers

Kristi is in labor, pushing as I type!  We're going to enjoy her baby/my nephew and let our talented guests take over for the next week or two.  We're so grateful for all the well wishes via our FB page.  We promise to keep you updated and show off Kris' new bundle soon! XOXO


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I feel so honored to be a guest here at Lolly Jane! Kristi and Kelli are just plain awesome and I'm always excited to see what they come up with next.

For those of you I haven't met yet, I'm Taryn from Design, Dining + Diapers! I live in the Pacific Northwest with my husband, 13 month old baby girl and our spunky Golden Retriever. When I'm not busy being a mom or part-time freelancer, you can find me blogging about DIY home decor, crafts, sewing projects, and allergy friendly foods!

Today, I'm sharing one of my favorite makeovers yet! Last summer I stumbled upon these Goodwill Chairs for $1.30. Yes, you heard me right. 130 cents for BOTH chairs. I'm still in shock. After a little TLC, I transformed the chairs into these beauts.

To give you an idea of what I was working with, here is a quick before and after!

I chose dove white for the paint color and after 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint these chairs were looking good as new. The look wouldn't be complete without this chic upholstery fabric I purchased at Hobby Lobby, it was a little steep at $24.99 a yard but it was 30% off AND I used a gift card that I won at The Frugal Girls, so still free for me!

I'd had my eye on this fabric at Hobby Lobby for quite some time. I loved the neutral tones and the beautiful typography. I knew it would fit perfectly in my updated family room!

Part of the fun of being a DIYer is the adventure that goes along with a great transformation. Sometimes things don't go as planed and you run into new obstacles along the way. These chairs were no exception! Here is a little peek into what I went through during this transformation.

1. I started by removing the cushion from the chair frame. Thankfully it wasn't attached so it just lifted right off.

2. My naked chair.

3. Looking at some of the places where the paint had rubbed off, it was clear that this was easily the 3rd or 4th time these chairs have been painted. Instead of sanding down all 3 layers of paint, I choose just to sand down the areas were the paint was chipping and smooth it out. If you were doing this the 'right' way, I suppose you should sand down the whole chair. If these were real antiques I would have, but since they were only $1.30 it was worth the shortcut in my book.

I started with a coat of primer. I was not happy with how the primer was looking with a paint brush. You can see how the brush strokes were very visible and the primer was thick and gooey (Yuck. Maybe I need to invest in a better brush). I switched over to a small paint roller and I was MUCH happier with how it looked. See how smooth it is compared to the brush?

I applied 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of dove white paint to achieve the look I wanted.

Now onto the upholstery.

4. I started by removing the existing fabric from the seat cover. I used a screw driver to loosen up the staples and then pulled the fabric off.

5. To my surprise I found ANOTHER layer of upholstery. I told you these bad boys had been worked on before.

6. Now I know why these were recovered.

7. These staples were obviously the originals. They were rusted and I honestly wasn't sure I was going to be able to pry them off.

8. I used some pliers to pull the remaining staples out of the wood.

9. Ahhh nice and clean again.

10. I used the original upholstery as a pattern for my new seat cushions.

11. Now, I don't know about you but I like a little extra padding under my toosh (not that I don't have enough already), so I used some pillow stuffing to add an extra layer of padding between the wood and the foam pad. It actually made a big difference.

12. Next, I placed the seat on top of my new fabric and started the upholstering process. It's actually extremely simple, just pull the fabric as tight as possible and staple it around each side. Keep tugging at the fabric as you move around all of the sides.

You can't beat new chairs for $1.30! That's less than a mocha :)

To see more of my projects you can visit me on my blog, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest! Please come by and say hi, I love meeting new friends and I would love to see what you've been working on too!

A huge 'thank you' to Kelli and Kristi for letting me visiting with all of you today!

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Thank you, Taryn, for your awesome before/after!  We're thrilled to have our readers meet you!! :) Kelli and Kristi