“Do It Yourself” (DIY) projects are satisfying because they require ones own brain and muscle power. Sometimes they are a more economical solution than hiring professionals. However, if “time is money”, the vast amount of time needed for some DIYs means it might be more practical to hire a pro. In my case, several weeks and about $136 after the initial $80 purchase, I am one coat of PolyShades™ stain away from completing my sixth dining room chair re-do.

Recently I acquired these chairs with the goal of improving them, somehow (I knew only loosely what would be involved). They needed a serious clean up, and I wanted them to match a table purchased elsewhere. Finally, some of them needed reinforcing to eliminate wobbly legs. In dollars and cents each chair cost about $36 total (initial purchase plus materials). That cost naturally excludes the labour. Was it worth it? Yes. I enjoy learning new skills and this was a great opportunity to practice said new skills repeatedly.

The chairs were a mid-brown stained wood, with once-cream-coloured slip seats. I don’t know the history of the chairs, but they were well used. The cream fabric had become grey. The wood was gouged, chipped and carried a healthy dose of food remnants. I had to take the seats off the chair frames, remove the fabric and foam, reupholster with new foam, batting, and fabric. The frames needed a good scuffing (to better accept the new stain), cleaning off, then re-staining and reassembling with the recovered seats.

I wanted to darken the wood to match an espresso coloured dining room table, but the chairs have an intricate lattice back that would be a nightmare to strip in order to re-stain. Thank you Minwax™ for PolyShades™! It’s a stain that can be applied over an existing stain. Obviously one can darken the original shade, but cannot lighten it. I learned that baking hot temperatures (around 36° C) make for a messier staining experience. The stain is much runnier than usual, therefore it forms unsightly drips very easily as well as drying too quickly so that repeat strokes in a semi-dry area end up having a chalky lighter tone to them. Simply working in cooler temperatures best fought the heat challenge. I don’t have a ventilation system inside the house, so needed to work outdoors when weather permitted.

Stripping and recovering the seats involved a lot of hard physical work. The original staples (which seemed to be used far too enthusiastically) were so old that they were snapping rather than lifting out. I came to love my staple remover (“tack puller” officially), and was grateful for trusty pliers to pluck staple remnants out. The hammer was critical to bash in the stubborn staple bits that wouldn’t budge.Foam, batting, top and bottom fabric had to be cut to size before any assembly could happen. Fortunately, I found an excellent tutorial on how to recover slip seats and referenced it often on those first few chairs. It instructed me how to do the job alone rather than requiring a second set of hands to stretch the fabric tight (as the woman at the fabric store assured me would be necessary). It was great not to have to drag anyone else into my staple-strew mess.That said, my husband was a champion at eliminating wobbly legs and I’m very thankful for his ingenuity, working with the tools and materials we had on hand, (including toothpicks and carpenters’ glue).

Tools for this task: PolyShades stain and a Tack Remover

With their makeover, the chairs certainly look and feel cleaner. Sitting on them is comfortable and they don’t seem ready to collapse. Also, future fabric stains will be mitigated by the protective layer of Scotchgard™ that I sprayed on the seats before reassembly.

Was this a perfect DIY? Not at all, and I can show anyone the trouble spots if asked. Let’s be honest though, who is going to notice the minutiae on a chair when sitting down at a table to eat? The food is the focus! Imperfections aside, it was neat to see my own process improve with each chair. The number of staples I burned through and had to remove on chair #1 was 3-4 times what I needed by chair #6. And the time it took to uncover a seat shrank from about 4 hours (with the wrong tools) to one hour (with the right tools and techniques). It was a satisfying project, and I hope the lives of the chairs are vastly extended, but I am happy that my self-imposed task is drawing to a close.

Three chairs for DIY!

Hip-hip Hurray! Hip-hip Hurray! Hip-hip Hurray!

The chairs - before and after the makeover

Before and After: A DIY Story

The Battle

The Squirrel: Friend or Foe