Redo of Wooden Summer Folding Chairs





You cannot imagine how thrilled I was to see in amongst a pile of junk these magnificent old (but not too old) wooden folding beach, lounging chairs. YAY!! Here they are in the raw.

Hubster hates it when I find a pile of junk. My mother hates it, too. One time I found an almost new lawnmower and my mother was so embarrassed but I went to the door and asked if I could take the lawnmower and the fella was very nice. He even helped me get it in the minivan!

Anyway, I called Hubs and told him I found a junk pile. He said, “Good. Leave it there.” I said, “No. I need some stuff in the junk pile".” (There were 4 gorgeous old windows in that pile and I was not leaving them.) I just don’t give up. I kept begging and insisting and he came (he’s my hero)! Well, from that pile – as if getting these 2 fabulous old chairs were not enough, I got 4 wonderful windows (like I said), 2 old croquet mallets (I gave one to Mike, nephew – he’s worse than me with the old stuff) and well, whatever I got beyond this was just plain gravy, girls. Just plain gravy.

old beach chair

I stripped these chairs right down.


beach chairs stripped

It was downright painful to have to wait to go to Home Depot until the next day to get the spray paint. I wanted a really colorful spray paint for these.... bright lime green is the color I chose and this is the canvas I bought at Joann Fabrics.

canvas

In the past when I redid chairs like these I had to wind the canvas around the top support of the chair and staple it down. Then I had to practically do a somersault to get the bottom support bar done. It was painful. 

With this chair, they took into consideration that people were going to redo it someday and made it super simple.

All I had to do was hem the sides and then make a “rod pocket” at the top and the bottom. Oh, did I mention I used the old fabric from the chair as a pattern? It was super simple to cut out these chair seats. It’s a guaranteed fit, after all. You make a “rod pocket” by just doing one stitch across as seen below.

rod pocket


hemming

As you can see, there is a place to put the fabric through two poles and then you slide the wooden pole through the “rod pocket” you made.

sewing canvas

Here it is here. It’s going to hold the fabric secure even if someone sits on the chair. No more stapling the fabric to the chair itself. YAY!

20130530_191635 (800x600)


canvas2

I kinda set this whole thing up like a picnic. Isn’t it cozy? I feel like a big blogger! :)

stripes

Mmmmm.... comfy.....

canvass

I set up a little table with a cloth napkin, too.

petunias

I made some big, straight stitch pillows. (cut out 2 squares, sew around the edge, leave an opening, turn inside out, stuff with something, close the hole. (Boom! Extra seating!)

pillow

Here they are all set up. Fun.

green beach chairs

You could run toy cars up and down this (if you had an inclination to do so).

beach

I hope you find something as wonderful of this so that you can work on it and make it look like new, too!

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Hi there and WELCOME! So happy that you came by to visit. I'm Linda.
My sister, Carol, and I have a super creative family (my nephew even makes cabin furniture) and I try to log it all
right here on Crafts a la Mode by Two Succulent Sisters.
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8 comments

  1. Hey there! I'm here from the blog hop and just wanted to let you know I liked your facebook page ;o) Hope you'll get a chance to visit me! You can find me here:

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cropped-Stories/615495055132216?ref=hl

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  2. These came out so cute. I love the color of your new fabric. Maybe I should just redo my outdoor cushions. This is my inspirations. Have a great week.
    Debi

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  3. This isn't the way I used to do it. These chairs are different. When I took them apart I was surprised to see how they are constructed and I just put them back the same way. No prob.

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  4. Linda, those chairs are amazing! You did a beautiful job!

    -Karen

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  6. This is SO pretty!!

    Again, thanks for joining the Link Up this week!

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  7. Beautiful!! Love the fabric you chose. Thanks for linking up at Romance on a dime!

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  8. i used to visit this blog daily.I really love your write-ups guys continue the good work.
    plastic products

    ReplyDelete

So happy you came to visit today. Everyone is so busy but if you would like to leave a note for me, I would love it!!

Welcome

I am the crafter extraordinaire (on this blog anyway.) I live with my husband, my son, David, in a cozy cape cod style house in Connecticut.

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