Upcycling Project :)

So I like unusual objects in my home - I like to have items that other people dont have and one way of doing this is to shell out for one of a kind pieces from expensive designers or if your skint like me check out charity shops, freecycle and car booties for things that you can change and upcycle to fit in your home.

So the computer chair I had (previously upcycled too!) got broken and I wanted to replace it - I could have gotten another computer chair the basic kind for around £20 or a luxury one for upwards of £50 but instead I spotted a chair being given away for free on me2ufreebies a local freecycling site on facebook.

The chair cover was in poor condition BUT the mechanics were all fine.

The chair that I collected for free

I asked and was chosen to collect the chair - it's quite a large chair so I struggled a bit with getting in the car and then getting it up the stairs in the flat when I got home.

I had a look through my material box but the colours I wanted to cover it in I didn't have enough of.

Back in the January sales thought I bought new bedding so I decided that one of my old quilt covers (that I had originally planned to make a new kitty bed out of!) would be perfect to cover it.

I started by taking all the pieces of the chair apart - luckily it was all connected with allen key fitting screws so relatively easy to get it done in around 20 minutes

The back was actually the least damaged but took the longest to cover - there was very little 'hard' sections where I could staple the material on - I prob went through half a box of staples because they just couldn't grip. It took around an hour to cover the back

Back piece before being covered.

Next I did the wrap around arms - these were relatively quick to do as they had quite a solid structure. I cut slits in the material to accommodate the metal bars - ideally I would have sewed around the slits to reduce the chance of it laddering/fraying but as these pieces are actually where the arms screw into the base and back it's not a big deal that I didnt do this. The arms took around 20 minutes each to do.

Finally I did the seat base which was the easiest part to do it just involved cover the seat flipping it and stapling it underneath and then making holes for the screws. It took around 15 mins

Seat base and arms before getting covered

I then screwed the whole thing back together. This took around 20 mins as it was quite difficult getting the screws to go back in - the arms were the most difficult to get to lay flat.

I finally finished off by using a pillowcase to make a padded seat insert to match the chair.

Total cost = around £2  in petrol to collect, around 20p worth of staples and from start to finish around 3 1/2 hours to collect and cover.

I'm really pleased with this chair - it looks great and is really comfortable and I know that it's completely unique too