$5 Chair Transformation

Are you guys prepared for some serious transformation!?!?

My grandma is a jack-of-all-trades. For real. 

When she showed me the chair she bought during her stay here in Texas, I have to admit that I was pretty skeptical. 

I thought she wasted $5 on an ugly chair that just might be stuck in the 80's. 

But little did I know, she had big plans. 

I so wish I had taken a before picture before we primed it, but you get the general idea. 

Whilst I was up visiting for the summer, we went on a search for new fabric. Believe it or not, we found the perfect match at the Longest Yard Sale from (who we believe) was a retired interior decorator.  It was really good quality upholstery fabric and we scored over 5 yards for $5. Can't beat that!

The first thing we did was prime it using a spray paint primer. The wood was pretty dark and we didn't want to sand either, so priming was a must. We didn't bother covering the original fabric because it was just going to be recovered anyway. Next we painted it a buttery cream color, and this really changed the entire chair!  We then roughed up the edges with sandpaper to "un-perfect" it if you will. Our goal was to make it as shabby chic as possible. 

After the paint dried, we broke out the staple gun and began stapling!  We weren't concerned about the staples showing because we knew we were going to put a trim to cover them. 

Covering the back was the most challenging part, but once we finished, it already looked 1000X better.

Next was the trim! We found the perfect trim at an auction house for $1 a yard. It matched the fabric perfectly. 

All we did was hot glue the trim to the edges and we were done!

Here is the final product:

Isn't it gorgeous! I just love the houndstooth and the pale green. It's so quaint and it fits in perfectly with her decor!

I'd have to say that that is the best looking $5 chair I've ever seen.

Just to remind you... Here was the before/after:

Drool worthy right!?!?!

{and aren't you lusting after that suitcase side table in the after picture? See, I don't lie when I say she's a jack-of-all-trades!}