My "Chair" Lady

On Monday when I introduced you to Elsie, she looked like this:

With a well-sat-on, bedraggled seat, and a worn finish, poor Elsie was the Eliza Doolittle of the storage room—the perfect candidate for a rags-to-riches makeover!

Looking past the ratty brown clothing and flat” hair color”, I could see she had great personality. After one coat of semi-gloss white, her inner beauty started to emerge—but she was still on the rough side. She wouldn’t pass the Queen’s inspection yet!

Three coats of paint later, I decided she was well covered—but maybe a little TOO white!

So I took my scuff pad to her, and distressed all of the edges. Note to self: Next time use sand paper—it took a LOT of arm motion! (READ: my arms will be sore for a week!)

Ahhhhh, much better!  Now to redress her…

Her old seat cover was worn and pilled, and the padding (layers of some sort of cotton batting) underneath was very well squished, so I added another layer of Styrofoam:

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(I actually stole the foam from an old changing pad whose vinyl cover
had been ripped beyond repair… told you I was cheap!)

As I mentioned Monday, I’ve been looking for the perfect fabric for Elise’s new outfit, but couldn’t find it.  Finally some inspiration hit me—in the form of a burlap sack I dug out of the fabric bin at Goodwill!  Now, I know, burlap isn’t exactly the fabric choice of most fair ladies, but with all the burlap inspiration floating around Pinterest and Blogland lately, methought that I could “pretty it up” with a design of some sort.  Only problem was, I had neither black paint, nor the ability (or patience, really) to painstakingly cut a fancy stencil.

So I did the unthinkable—I FREEHANDED my design (an olive-branch wreath with the date of our marriage) onto my burlap sack, with—would you believe it—a Sharpie permanent marker! (PLEASE don’t stone me!) I think it worked pretty well (although if anyone wanted to send me a Silhouette vinyl/stencil-cutting machine, I certainly wouldn’t object! J)

I then positioned the burlap overtop both the old and new padding, carefully measuring eyeballing it to make sure it was centered.

Then I stole borrowed my hubby’s Stanley electric staple gun, and stapled the burlap onto the seat. (He better be careful, or I will appropriate it—I think I’m addicted to stapling things!)

(See the extra row of staples on the sides? I stapled it once, then decided it wasn’t tight enough, so I pulled it tighter and stapled it again, closer to the edges. I trimmed off the extra fold of burlap, leaving only the staples in the wood— yes, I was too lazy to pull them out [but no one will see them under there, right?] So note to self: make sure to pull upholstery fabric much tighter than you think necessary!)

Elsie was then reunited with her seat, and voila! A transformation to make Professor Higgins proud!

Now she glides into the royal palace, confident in her newly uncovered beauty…

…and smiling radiantly in the spotlight of attention that only a dramatic transformation can bring!

(My own little princess had to get in on the photo shoot…)

Elsie now holds court in the corner of our dining room, next to my desk (where afore-mentioned princess claims her as her perch to keep me company when I’m working on the computer)! J

Once more, Elsie’s dramatic makeover:

What do you think? Have you jumped on the burlap bandwagon yet?

Linking up at:

It's Overflowing

Thrifty Decorating

Uncommon Designs Online