My Louis XVI Chair Makeover

Hello again from The French Hen's Nest


My yellow french chair is different from my other french chairs.  It is a Louis XVI chair style and has no curvy lines at all.  Like so many of the things in my home,  I acquired it from my sister Jeannie when she moved from her Victorian home in New Bern back to Alexandria and decided to downsize.

It is so very roomy in the seat and very comfortable and I loved it just as it was.

(Beautiful just as it was)

Then one day while in Jo-anns I found the most beautiful fabric with a rooster medallion in red, blue and gold.  So very Frenchie, don't 
you think?

 

       (this is true color)

It was on the clearance rack plus 50% off!  $7.50yd.  I pushed it around the store for 30 minutes admiring it.  I fell in love with the fabric but couldn't think of how I would use it, so I left without it.  

Well, I kept thinking about that beautiful fabric (I saw it when I was going to sleep each night...) and it hit me that it would be perfect for my chair.  I went back to Jo-anns and it was still there but no longer additional 50% off.  Oh well, it was still not a bad price at $15 a yard.  I bought 2 yards to cover my chair.  I had to go back and get another yard since I knew some of the medallions would be destroyed while cutting out others to get the placement I wanted.  When I went back it was on sale again and I only paid $7.50 for the additional yard I needed.

 I started by removing the old fabric from the chair.

    There always seems to be 1000s of staples to remove but I was able to pull it off in spurts.  What a workout!  Sore arm the next day. The padding was still in good shape so I decided to reuse it. I used the old fabric as a pattern and replaced the back, padding and the front. 

  
Then I looked at my progress and realized the chair frame needed some freshening up. 

No way was I going to remove the work I had already done, so I taped on plastic bags to cover the fabric while I painted the chair.

  I had a favorite yellow I had used in my kitchen so I started with this.  Too yellow!

(too yellow)

Not sure of what to do next, I left the chair for a few days.  Then when I had to go to Lowe's for something else I saw a sample of Valspar " Dining Room Gold" and knew it was exactly what I wanted on my chair. I painted the chair and added back some gold highlights where they were originally.
 

  Perfect color!

I finished the upholstery and made the cushion cover.  
A note about the cushion cover.  I am always anxious when making a box cushion with piping since you have to get the corners just right on top and bottom or the cushion looks lopsided.  I discovered when I made my first slipcover (please check it out) that if you sew the piping to the side piece that wraps around the cushion, put it on the cushion, then fit and pin the top and bottom to the side piece, everything comes out matching.

Anyway here is the finished chair!    It's actually more yellow than the photo shows.

Little touches of gold- the chair insisted!

Don't you love the Rooster?  It's on the back of the chair and the reverse of the cushion.

 I am so happy with how it turned out!  My husband says it looks just like it did but fresher! I think it looks totally different!

Please let me know what you think.

Linda

Project cost          Behr Paint sample                    $   2.79
                            Fabric 3 yd on sale                     37.50 
                    Piping 4yd (40%off coupon)             1.00
                    Total Cost                                  $  41.29


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