Have you ever had a piece of furniture, such as a hand-me-down that you just didn’t know what to do with? Or maybe you have something that used to fit into your décor, but now it simply doesn’t. I love to decorate my home, and re-decorate my home. Taste can change over time. Changing the color of your walls, or getting a new rug or some throw pillows are pretty simple changes to make. But what happens when you have a piece of furniture that no longer fits your color scheme? You could always get rid of it and buy something new, but if your style changes often or you just can’t afford it, then what? Give it a furniture makeover!
Where The Furniture Makeover Began
We have been blessed to have a wonderful family, both near and far. Over time we have been given various items for our home. This includes new items, thrift store items as well as family heirlooms. Whenever we are given something of sentimental value, I try my best to continue to make it work in my home in some way. This is not always an easy task. Pictures or paintings can be moved from place to place as can smaller items of décor. But when it comes to something like an armchair, that’s a bit more complicated.
The original chair
My husband and I have lived in a few different places ranging from a small apartment to a full sized home where we are now. Somewhere along the line, we were gifted an armchair from someone in my husband’s family. At the time we received it, the chair was in pretty decent condition. It was kind of an armchair/rocking chair hybrid because instead of legs on the bottom, it had a circular rocking mechanism. It was very comfortable and convenient when we had an infant! The color at the time we received it was somewhere in the mauve/rose family. It actually fit pretty well with the color scheme that I had going on at the time.
Needs Change, So Can Furniture
When we moved to our current home, I wanted to use the chair in our nursery. It didn’t really match the purple/gray theme that I wanted to have so at the time, I just threw a blanket over it and called it a day. Pretty easy huh? Or so I thought. Every single time I used the chair (which was a lot because I had an infant) I had to adjust and re-adjust the blanket. What a pain! So I upgraded to a slipcover. I just went with a neutral cover that seemed like it would be much less of a nuisance. Wrong. If you have ever used a slipcover before, then you know that you have to be some kind of rocket scientist to put it on correctly. The instructions are also never helpful. Not to mention that unless your chair is a standard size or the cover is custom made, it probably won’t fit perfectly either. But I rolled with it out of necessity at the time.
As our child grew, the need to have the chair in the nursery dwindled. So one day I got a burst of motivation and relocated it to the living room. It seemed like it would work there and get a lot more use. After moving it, I almost immediately noticed a problem. As my oldest came running to the “new chair” and hopped on, the whole thing began to tip. Chairs with the circular mechanism on the bottom don’t just move front to back, they swivel in all directions. I could just picture one, or both of my children tipping the chair over and falling on their heads. So now what? Now I was faced with the decision to either get rid of it, or somehow make it work.
Let The Furniture Makeover Begin!
Being that it was a nice chair, and from family, I decided to give it a furniture makeover. I knew that it not only needed to be able to fit into my living room color scheme, but it needed to be safe. So what did I do? I called my dad of course! My father is quite the handyman and has helped us with too many projects to mention (like the amazing shelf he built). I figured if anyone could help me fix the chair, he could. And I was right! He was able to remove the circular mechanism from the bottom of the chair and convert the bottom to four standard armchair legs. What a difference that made! Now it was just a regular (and stable) chair!
After the safety issue was addressed, I was ready to tackle the makeover. I didn’t think I could handle another slipcover, but I wasn’t sure what else to do. So I started looking around for options. Of course I could get a cover custom made to fit, but who wants to spend the money for that? Not me! After a lot of searching, I finally found something that made sense. A slipcover that was in two separate pieces. One for the actual chair, and one for the cushion. Not only this, but the material is very stretchy and easy to work with. Even better, I was able to find a cover in my favorite color (teal!) I couldn’t believe the transformation!
The “new” chair
Testing It Out
I am not going to lie, it still took me a minute or two to figure out how to put the main cover over the chair correctly. But once I got the hang of it, putting it on became a breeze. This is a huge must for me because with children, covers must frequently be removed and washed. I love that the cushion cover is separate because it not only gives a better fit, I don’t have to wash the whole thing if only the cushion gets a little spill on it. The two separate pieces stay in place so there is no more having to constantly adjust the cover every time it is used. It is amazing! So much so that I bought the same kind of covers for my couch cushions! You can see here that the covers are made of a very stretchy material so that they fit nice and snug.
So there you have folks! A simple and fast way to transform a piece of furniture without spending a lot of your hard earned money. Once you try it, you might just enjoy it so much that you want to do more! Try a furniture makeover and see just how much it can help to transform your space! Happy decorating!
