Recycle, Reuse...Reupholster!

The "Green" initiative is so huge right now and I am surrounded by sustainable design and the idea of reusing and recycling in building in my job. That may be why I've gotten more interested in recycling. Yes, I've started carrying the Kroger mesh bags to pick up my groceries to keep from using plastic bags, taking all my old magazines to be recycled, filling up a sports bottle with water instead of buying bottled water and separating all of our paper, cans and plastics at work. Since we are trying to furnish our home on a tight budget over the next year before we move, I decided to take the recycling idea to furniture too. We salvaged two pieces from my great grandmothers basement after she passed away and worked on them to make them usable.

One of the pieces before (straight out of the basement)

Almost through - it's not completely finished in this pic - I'll post when it is - I am thinking about painting it and distressing it...any thoughts?

My mom gave me an old club chair - the upholstery was in bad shape, but the chair is really nice with down in the cushions. I decided it would be worth checking into reupholstering it. There is no reason it should go to a landfill just because the upholstery is out of date! I liked the idea so much of finding pieces that had good bones and then picking my own fabric and having them made into a completely new piece (for less than you could buy a new chair) so I decided to give it a try.

(Club Chair before - you can't see it but the fabric on the other arm was completely ripped up)

(Club Chair After)

I bought an ottoman for $18 at a thrift store to recover with it, but they ran out of fabric so I have to pick up some more. I'll post it when it's finished. I also picked up another chair for $30 at the thrift store that I love the shape of and found some inexpensive fabric (it is actually a beige basketweave fabric with gold threads running through it although it looks a little yellow in the picture - something with the flash I guess). It looks like a whole new chair and I love it!

(Thrift Store Chair Before)

(Thrift Store Chair After - this picture doesn't really show how good it turned out - the flash or something made it look washed out - but I am really happy with how it looks.)

Both of these pieces were done by McCoy Upholstery in Dadeville, Ala. (they pick up and deliver - included in the price). My mom had a chair done by them too and all three pieces were excellently done. I would highly recommend them! That's all for now.