I found out my little upholstered bench isn’t a bench but a Queen Anne Setee; all the better! I just got back from the store with paint stripper, aquatic vinyl, double welt cording, dark walnut stain, and upholstery thread. I already have a leather needle, a stapler, glue gun, and misc. padding and foam. I’m hoping to borrow my mother and to pick my friend Vicki’s brain, who is a professional upholsterer.
My mother helped me move the bench in the bay window to check out the look and it is a perfect size lengthwise but too short. I’m on the lookout for some ball feet to put under the legs and raise it just right. I’m so excited! The Nester has a post about a Queen Anne Chair she gave a makeover to. It’s worth a read. It’s so pretty! And gave me the boost I needed to stop dreaming and start doing.
I’m in tear-out stage now and taking lots of pictures and notes so I’ll know how to put it back together. I started on the front, and soon found out that with all the tufting, I’d have to do the back first.
If you using your settee at the table, you should look into getting laminated fabric. I wish I had for my dining chairs. I get so tired of scrubbing greasy stains out of my fabric. My vinyl over tip only lasted a couple of years.
Caroline, Thanks for the tip. I’ve worked with laminated fabric before and it is pretty flimsy. It’s not machine washable and it gets holes in it easily. I went for the marine vinyl used for boat seats etc. It is super sturdy. Although it was $18.99 a yard (I’m thankful for 40% off coupons) it should last us awhile as long as I do a decent job on the labor.
I didn’t see a comment link for the post about your washer skirt, but you could buy some peel and stick velcro and some sewable velcro and place the peel and stick on your washer and sew the sewable to your skirt ( that way you do not gum up your machine) and you will have nice straight lines and even hang.
Design Intervention has great tutorials on reupholstering.
http://charishumin.blogspot.com/