Free Chairs, Yep, F.R.E.E.

Every first Monday of the month the City of Fort Worth allows us to place bulk trash out on our curb and they will come and pick it up.  Typically it takes them a few days to pick up.  So, the first Wednesday in November, I noticed that everyone's bulk "trash" was still out on their curbs while B-man and I were taking a stroll through the neighborhood.  There were stuff like old couches, kids toys,  kitchen tables and chairs.  When I walked up to the house that had patio (i think) chairs on their curb, I noticed that the chairs were not all that bad and were is pretty good shape.  Yeah, I was that lady that went curb diving/digging through people's trash with a baby in my stroller (instead of dumpster diving.  which I would totally do if there was a dumpster near by.  no shame.).  The next morning, I had Jer pick up the 2 chairs in his truck (keeping my fingers crossed that the trash man hadn't come to pick them up that afternoon) on his way to work.  Thanks, again, love.

The best part about curb diving is that everything is FREE!  It's like I stole them, but really didn't.  :)  I felt pretty dang cool getting two "new" chairs for not even a penny since I knew I could fix them up pretty easily and use them somewhere in my house.

Here's one chair.  They had gotten a little wet from the rain the night before.

While I got started priming, B got to swingin'.  This is a typical day for him when I'm busy outside doing a project.  But he loves it.  He can oohhh and awww over the airplanes.  And he usually watches Jet frolic around the yard.

I applied my first coat of primer very lighly.  I didn't prime/paint the seat since it would be recovered with fabric.  

We (yes, Jer helped, too) used a cheap foam roller.  If I had to do it again, I would have used spray paint since there were more crevises on these chairs then I thought.  Mainly because of all of the lines on the back of the chairs.  Nonetheless, we got'er done.  Even though it took us a whole weekend to finish due to drying time of all of our coats.

Here's a close up after we primed and painted 2 coats of antique white paint.  

Next up....foam and fabric.

Jer picked up 2 foam packages from Hobby Lobby (where we had a coupon) that would be large enough to fit the seats.  These seats were larger than most seats on chairs (that's what makes me think these chairs might have been used outside on a patio).

When I flipped the seat over I noticed that they World Market tags were still on them.  So I know these must have cost a pretty penny.  

Since the foam wasn't a perfect fit for the seats, we had to trace the seats and cut them down to size.  

Next we cut our fabric leaving about 2 inches on all 4 sides for enough overlap to staple onto the chair.

The fabric I used is cream and khaki and has a houndstooth design.  I got it from a local thrift store that had all of their fabric on sale for .99 cents!  Turns out, their fabric is always that cheap.  That day I wanted to get 10 yards and instead of them un-rolling 10 yards, the lady just said I could have the whole roll for 10 buckaroos (which looked like a whole lot more than just 10 yards).  I didn't argue.  :)

So....I didn't do my corners the "normal" way.  Instead, I decided that I wanted them folded kinda like a present.  Kinda.  Mainly because the foam was so squared on the corners that that's the only way (to me) it would have looked decent.

In the end, I really like how the corners turned out.  They are different but I kinda like them that way.

Jer put their seats on them and wholla....here's the twins.  I really like them.  They make me think of beach/cottage home.  Not really my style of homes but I'm willing to venture out.  :)  

For now, they are sitting in my living room until I find them a home (in my home).    

It's now the first Tuesday of the month and I'll be driving through the neighborhood today in hopes of something "new" for me to re-do.  :)  Hope I get lucky!

xoxo,
~Jeni