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This is a story of how I rescued and repurposed my biggest Pinterest fail with a staple gun and a glue gun, and turned it into a diy French chair with graphics.
I have had this chair for about 12 years. My husband found it at a tent sale at a nice furniture store with one of the legs broken off for $5.
The leg came with it, so he nailed it back on. I want to say that it is a heavy and well made chair, but since we purchased a three legged chair it may not be that well made. If you do not have a French chair, you can usually find one at a thrift store.
After much research on Pinterest, I decided to makeover my old chair and paint it with chalk paint. My family thought it was a stupid idea, but I assured them that it would work, because I saw it on Pinterest!!
Here is a photo of my paint job after about 6 coats. No lie, that sucker was sucking up the expensive chalk paint like a sponge! And it felt like sandpaper when you touched it. I could see that if I continued to try to paint the chair, my chair was going to cost a fortune, and be too painful to sit on.
The worst part was my family was right! It was a stupid idea. I know people paint upholstered furniture all of the time, but I guess my problem was the material that my chair was made with.
Plan B. 
I head to my favorite fabric shop, the Thrift Store, to find someone’s leftover fabric to cover my chair. Paying $2 for fabric makes projects so less stressful. If I cut it wrong or damage it, it’s no big deal!
I really wanted a french graphic on the chair. My decor is not cottage, it is more traditional, so I thought this graphic from Graphic Fairy was a little whimsical and would look good with my decor.
Her graphics are so beautiful and free to download. She has tutorials showing how to transfer the images.
I tried the Modge Podge way on a scrap piece of fabric, and I was not pleased at all. I went with wax paper method, and it worked great!
The instructions do not say to dampen your material, but you need to dampen it with a damp rag before placing the wax paper down. I tried it both ways, and the transfer hardly stuck on the dry material.
I painted the chair with paint . The name of the color is Everlasting which is white. I used clear wax to protect the paint. I did not use any dark wax.
I took apart the 2 cushions and 2 pieces of trim. I covered the trim and glue the material on with a glue gun.
I stapled the material to the back of the cushion, and I stapled the trim to the back of the cushion with staple gun.
Stapling the back into the wood was the only part that was hard to do. I had to get my husband to staple the back on.
I stapled the trim onto the wood under the cushion, and then sat the recovered cushion on top.
I am pretty happy with my diy french chair with a graphic, and I am hoping that my family forgets my huge Pinterest fail!
If you can not find a used chair, Target has a good price on a French chair. You can still add a graphic to the Target chair.
Sherry, you did an awesome job with the upholstering!! I’ve never upholstered a chair, only a bench once and that was not tricky. This does look a bit more complicated but you made it look easy and do~able! The chair turned out beautifully!
For a failed project, it turned out beautiful! Thanks for sharing it at Talk of the Town – I’m giving you a shout-out on Facebook and pinning it to the Knick of Time Party Board!
This looks fantastic! You’ve done such a great job. I would probably have opted to paint it first too as using fabrics seems like a lot more work – but this looks super! x
this project turned out fantastic and is something I would like to do eventually, so I am going to pin this post to come back to later when I find just the right chair. Thanks for sharing at #WayWow link-up
I think it turned out awesome, no fail here at all! I have tried something similar and will have a post in the future. Stick with your gut feelings! I found your blog through Welcome Home Wednesday.
Majan, Let me know when you post it. I would love to read it!
Are you kidding me, this is stunning! And you did the right thing in the end by using fabric instead of chalk paint. If nothing else it was a good lesson for all of us to not use it with certain types of fabric. Don’t you wish that the people who use chalk paint on their upholstery would come back a few months later and tell us the afterstory… if it held up or not.
Sherry, Wow! From a $5 chair! Amazing. The intricate detail of the chair makes for a really gorgeous transformation. It looks so much better in white, the detailing shows up so much better.
I’ve thought about chalk painting a chair of chaise, I’m so happy I read your story, I read another one recently where the paint cracked on the piece of furniture. I will be recovering the piece, instead of painting, who wants to do it twice? LOL Unless of course it’s just because you want to change the look later on.
The graphic is perfect, interesting, eye catching and not too much for the piece. It’s just right. Great job!
If you don’t fail sometimes, it means you are not trying! How many times did Edison fail before inventing the light bulb? How many times did Lincoln fail before he finally made it to the presidency? If you never fail, you are not expanding your borders! I’m glad you didn’t quit. You got your beautiful chair and gave us encouragement to keep trying! Thank you!😁
BJ, Thanks for the compliment on the chair and also the encouraging words!
Beautifully done! Thanks for sharing this on Inspiration Thursday 🙂
Oh how beautiful! Your chair turned out stunning and classy! I love how you made over this beautiful chair! Well done! I hope you have an amazing day!
Smiles!
Terry
The Curator’s Collection & Making Broken Beautiful (Thursdays)
Sherry you did such a great job. I love the Graphic Fairy too! She has such great designs. Wonderful job!
Your chair looks amazing. I tried that whole paint the upholstery thing once and had the same issue. Luckily, it was only a footstool. I love that graphic and have used it on several projects, too. 🙂
Hi Sherry,
Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for leaving such a sweet comment!
I think your chair turned out amazing! And I love the material you used and the graphic is just perfect! Beautifully done!!
Happy almost Friday! 🙂
Kimberley
Thank you so much Kimberly!!
This is so awesome!! Sharing out this morning on IG and FB. Thanks so much for linking at Friday’s Furniture Fix. We love have you share with us. Susie from The Chelsea Project
This beautiful chair of yours is getting a lot of buzz in the blogosphere this week – I’m seeing it everywhere! Love the graphic you added to the back too. Thanks for the great tip – I tried the wax paper method without dampening and gave up so this tip has been stored in the old noggin. I found the exact same chair(s) on Kijiji and refinished them in white. Don’t you just love all the detail on those legs!
Madly in love with this chair!! It’s so pretty! 🙂
What an awesome transformation! It’s amazing what you can do with some fabric and paint!
Beautiful chair. You did a great job on it. sb
Love the Plan B chair! I’ll have to look into the graphic transfer as that sounds like a fun way to add your own personality. Thanks for linking up with Funtastic Fridays.
This is the MOST amazing project I have seen! I mean the shear courage you have to try it in the first place amazes me. I love the outcome. The design and colors you chose are perfect. You have such an eye for detail and style; from a $5 chair to one that someone would pay $100 or more for I’m sure! Thank you for showing us your tutorial and how to do this on our own—not that I would, lol. Truly a stunning piece of furniture.
Hi Sherry, you did a great job. No body can believe that you turned this chair this way. Very creative work.
I love this chair. Think I might try something like this for my next project.
I love the bee graphic on the yellow fabric. The chair is so much cuter now.
Sherry, I think your chair turned out beautifully. I’m in the middle of painting 4 dining room chairs for my son. I’ve painted one chair seat with ASCP and fortunately 2 coats of Graphite covered the red paisley fabric and I’m happy with the results. But sometimes, you just have to put new fabric on. I’ve done that too. I love the graphic embellishment. Thanks for sharing at Your Inspired Design Link Party #30.
Sherry, I have had many a pinterest fail project. Thank you for sharing yours! The chair turned out beautifully in the end! Thank you for the tips on the transfer. This is something I have not tried yet, but maybe one day. Enjoy your chair! Pinning and tweeting to share. Thanks for linking up with us this week for Snickerdoodle Sunday!
~Laurie
Sherry,
You are so much more patient and precise than I could ever dream to be. This is beautiful, I’m pinning this as well. <3
Love the bee graphic and it looks great now – if at first you don’t succeed 🙂 Thanks for sharing with Pin Worthy Wednesday Sherry
you are so talented!! love it.
Joy @ The Joyous Living
love it and congrats for the perserverance!
It doesn’t look like a fail to me. It’s gorgeous. Great job.
Sherry, your chair is lovely! Your perseverance paid off! Thanks for sharing at Snickerdoodle Sunday. Pinned and Tweeted.
I absolutely love how your chair turned out Sherry. It’s beautiful! You turned a potential fail into an amazing success. Awesome job! Thanks so much for sharing at Vintage Charm.
I love the way it turned out!
Thanks for sharing at Manic Monday Linky Party, hope to see you next week!
You did an awesome job and I love the addition of the graphic! It is definitely a one of a kind piece. #talentedtuesday
Sherry! You have done an outstanding job! The chair is absolutely stunning. And I love the addition of the graphic, too. Thanks so much for sharing at Inspiration Thursday. Hope you have a great week.
I am smitten! Your perseverance paid off ~ it is BEE-utiful! (Couldn’t resist!)
‘I’m sure that Pinterest experiment is just a memory by now. Your chair is gorgeous and thank you so much for sharing it at Celebrate Your Story link party and we hope you join us again.
This turned out beautifully!! Featuring it at Your Inspired Design tomorrow! Thanks for linking up!
I can’t believe that is the same chair that you started with! It is gorgeous! I love it! So glad you linked it up to Dishing It! & Digging It!
Sherry! Because of your great advice and sharing real life experiences getting this chair to this gorgeous state, I will be featuring it on Making Broken Beautiful tomorrow! Thank you for the inspiration! I hope you have a wonderful day!
Smiles!
Terry
The Curator’s Collection & Making Broken Beautiful (Thursday)
Oh I love this! I am trying to become a DIY-er but it can be so hard when you have not had the motivation all the time! This looks adorable though! I must pin this!
I love it, you did a great job. You should actually be glad the chalk paint didn’t work, because I’m pretty sure it would not have turned out as great as it did, even if it had worked as it should!
Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party this week! Pinned!
Hi, just a quick note to let you know that I’ve featured this post today on The Really Crafty Link Party Features. Come and grab an “I was featured” button and browse around for the other features here: http://keepingitrreal.blogspot.com.es/2016/04/the-really-crafty-link-party-14.html. Congratulations!
Thanks Teresa!!!
Hi Sherry! I’m just popping back in to let you know that I’m featuring your fabulous chair makeover at Vintage Charm tomorrow. Thanks again for sharing it with us!
Sherry, i love how you turned your failed project into such a fabulous make-over. Your chair looks amazing. Thank you for sharing at Shabbilicious Friday. I’m delighted to be featuring it at tomorrows party.
Hugs ~ Kerryanne
Thank you for sharing this FABULOUS chair redo at the Friday Favorties Link Up Party – I’ve chosen it as one of my special features this week, swing by and grab your featured button!
This is brilliant! I am so impressed with your skills! Thanks for the amazing post. I’m new to your blog and think I’m going to love it here.
Tania at FARRAGOZ ~ Online Courses in The Art of Patina
Thank you Tania! You are so sweet to say that.
Your chair looks fabulous! I have always been afraid to use trim because I thought it was too complicated, but your way looks so easy that I am going to try it! I will be featuring your post on Friday Favorites at mustlovehome.com this week…I would love for you to check it out! Have a great week- Christine
Christine, Thank you. I will check it out and link up another project!
I do love that you posted the fail. That is as helpful as the success story! And boy what a success story! I love the graphic you chose and the whole chair turned out fabulous. I love to shop the thrift store curtains for fabrics to craft with.
🙂
http://gwingal.blogspot.com/
You are right Nikki! Curtains work great also. My mother has even recovered a chair seat with a thrift store skirt, and it looks beautiful.
Sherry, this chair is beautiful!! Love the graphic you chose! You did a wonderful job refinishing this chair!! I hope you link it up to our party, Sweet Inspiration. It starts on Friday and runs until Tuesday. Have a great weekend!!
Just stopping by to let you know this awesome post was picked as a feature on the #HomeMattersParty. You can find it featured at http://adventuresfrugalmom.com/home-matters-linky-party-82/. While you are there make sure to grab the I was featured button for you side bar.
Thank you so much Melissa! I am thrilled!
Sherry, your chair turned out beautiful!! I’ve chalk painted hundreds of furniture but never tried on fabric. I wanted to try but now I have some doubts… I have to tell you my favorite transfer method for fabric is using spray varnish, I wrote a tutorial about it, 5 minutes and you’re done, I promise!
I would love to invite you to share it with us at our new Sweet Inspiration party, which is live every Friday: http://sweethings.net/sweet-inspiration-link-party-2/
Hugs,
so cool~ Love the design print here and what a cool DIY – Thanks for showing it off! xo, Bee over at #homemattersparty
What a great makeover!!
One of my all time favorite projects you have ever done!