An Heirloom

 

This old wingback chair belonged to my great grandpa Conwell, who left it to my Nan. Years later, it ended up at my mom's house, where Nan and my parents worked to recover it. 20 years later, it was passed to me.

20 years in storage was rough, but this chair has good bones and such a special history in our family, that it just needed some love to get it to where we needed it to be. I looked around for a few months for a budget friendly reupholstery place here in DFW. While no place was over priced, I knew I could save more by doing it myself. I decided to give it my best shot and the picture at the top of this blog post was the end result! W I L D. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd have this kind of opportunity. It was so special to tear this chair apart all the way down to the springs and see notes from my nan and mom on the inside where they were reupholstering it in this red check. 
 

We removed the batting and sprayed it all down with Lysol.  The chair had a musty smell, from years in storage, and we wanted to make sure and let it air out before recovering it. I laid out the fabric (which I purchased from JoAnn Fabrics) and laid the old pieces on it, creating my own pattern pieces. I wrote on the wrong side of the fabric what each piece was so when it was time to put it together, it was a little less confusing.

While it was one of the most challenging projects I've ever jumped in to, this is also one of the most rewarding. I've never been more excited to bring something into our home. 

Special thanks to Nan & Paps, for patiently answering all my questions and for helping me find the perfect staple gun as well as all the pro tips on reupholstering. Also, couldn't have done it without Koal (and Kowboy and Pistol). :) 

What is the most recent project you've tackled that left you feeling happy? 

xo, Abi