We only had one folding chair in our house, and it looked like this:

This chair was from before I bought a step ladder and would frequently use it to paint!  Needless to say, when we have family over, it was not my go-to chair for extra seating.  Somehow we have always had plenty of chairs, just by pulling them from other areas of the house, even if we had 16 people for dinner….I guess that’s why Bob had me on “chair buying probation.”  I just love chairs and giving them a new look.  So, when I saw these folding chairs at Goodwill, I really wanted them.

They were $4.97 each and I questioned the purchase, so I didn’t buy them.  But, when I told Bob about them and that I thought they would be nice for extra seating for big family dinners, he agreed it was a good idea.  So, I rushed back to Goodwill the next day and bought them.  I was so happy they were still there, because in my head they already had a pretty new look.  And, I have to say that they turned out even better than I imagined.

Since I was getting the paint out, I decided to give that old blue chair a fresh coat too.

For the blue one, I did sand it a bit first just to get the paint drips a little smoother.  For the padded chairs, I had to remove the cushions first. This was easily done by unscrewing a few screws on the back of the chair and under the seat.

I was left with just the metal chairs.  I set them up outdoors on my drop cloth and boards.  This is my spray paint “shop.”  I’m sure the neighbors love it!! 😉

I used my favorite paint, Rustoleum Heirloom White.  I had a few cans in my supplies already.

That was after one coat of paint.  It took several coats.  I also flipped the chairs over and painted underneath, and then I half-way unfolded them so that I could get in all the creases.  Overall, I used about 4 cans of paint on the 3 chairs.  For the ones with cushions, I didn’t really cover the area where the cushions would be.  In between painting the chairs, I worked on the cushions inside.

They were nasty!  I flipped them over so that I could get the staples out.  I didn’t have to work too hard.  There was enough extra fabric to grab a hold of and just rip it off.  The staples were pretty shallow ones, so they ripped right out of the fabric.

After the nasty fabric was off, I used the cushions as my pattern to cut out the new pretty fabric.  I laid the fabric on the dining room table and just arranged the cushions to minimize my fabric use.   I think I have enough to make a pillow at some point.  Sorry for the slight glare…it was one of the first pretty sunny Spring days.

I left about an inch or two the whole way around each cushion so that I had room to pull and staple it to the back.

Now, it was time to staple.  I usually follow the same 4 steps.  Put a couple staples in one side, and then do the same on the opposite side.  Third step is to staple the other 2 sides.  Finally, staple the corners.  Corners vary for me.  With this one, I was able to do most of the gathering from the back and not have a seam, so that is what I did.  After I had it secured the whole way around, I went back around all sides and stapled more in between my original staples.

After it was all stapled, it looked like this.

Then, I just took my scissors and trimmed the excess fabric.

The back cushion was a different method of attack.  The back is curved, so when I tried to staple from opposite sides, it didn’t work well.  It pulled the fabric.  I also ran into the issue that the back was so thin my staples were poking through the fabric. So, the backs got a layer of batting applied underneath the fabric and that prevented the staples from poking through.  I ended up just stapling in one direction the whole way around so that I could keep the fabric and batting smooth.

I trimmed all the excess after I had everything stapled.

Flipped it over and was pleased with the result.

I might be slightly in love with this fabric print!!

After adequate drying time, I reattached the cushions using the same screws.

I can’t wait to use these chairs at our Easter dinner.

And, I won’t have an embarrassing blue chair either.  I have a simple creamy white folding chair that will coordinate with all of our other chairs.

Do you host large family gatherings?  What do you use for extra seating?

Linking up:  Share it Sunday; Much Ado about Monday; You’re Gonna Love it Tuesday; Twirl and Take a Bow Tuesday