A Very Merry
Un-Birthday
Several years plus two months to the day after my husband’s
birthday I finished his birthday present. A chair I refinished &
reupholstered for him.
Several years ago I picked up a chair for free that someone had
meant to reupholster. The chair had been in their garage for many years when they
decided that they were never going to reupholster it; they just needed to get
it out of their garage.
I leapt at the chance to refinish and reupholster it. I love old
furniture if it is from before a certain date because it has the potential to
be very comfortable.
We had this antique couch I had refinished & reupholstered
that was very comfortable. Friends who came over and sat on it would say that
it was so comfortable that they really didn’t want to get up. So when I saw a chair that looked like it was
of the same quality I was really excited.
It took years to finish this project and here is why it took so
long. To refinish and or reupholster and
often repair structural problems in old furniture can be expensive and time
consuming to do it properly. For example
to properly clear the frame of all the tacks, nails, hardware and the odd occasional
screw from the frame can take a bit of time. Every single step takes time if
you let everything take its proper time.
People who reupholster or refinish furniture for a living can do
this more quickly because of their experience and extra tools they have for
helping with the process. A person could
ask, why on earth would you spend this much time and money to fix a piece of furniture
when you can buy a new couch for less. I would answer as follows: Can you
repair that new couch if it gets broken? Can it hold up to a child jumping on
it? Mine can, not that I am going to tell them that. Is your furniture
comfortable enough that you could in theory lounge on it all day or does it get
uncomfortable after a while to sit or lay on it?
As to the finical
investment, I spend less money in the long run. Here is why; if the fabric on
my furniture is ruined beyond cleaning I just have to buy more fabric and
change it out. The guts of the furniture
are still good. I can change out the fabric for under 100.00(with my preference
in fabrics) that is a lot cheaper than a new couch. Buying new couches adds up
over a person’s life span. How many couches do you think a family can go
through in their life? More than one I am sure.
Then I would talk about how comfortable the furniture is. I would
end my explanation by having them sit on a piece of old furniture. Maybe I
would convince them, maybe not but it really boils down to old furniture being
my preference.
This chair took so long to finish because I refuse to buy
something when we don’t have the money to do so. We don’t buy things with credit cards. We are willing for things to take a long time
to avoid debt as much as possible. So we
bought the stuff to refinish the legs over a few months. A few more months later we bought the fabric
for the chair when it was on sale and we had a good coupon on the fabric. A month later we bought the upholstery
tacks. Then life happened and it got put
on hold. Still later we got the badding
and stuffing for free from a couch I tore apart. Months after that it was the upholstery
tacks. Another month later it was the
upholstery thread and then it was the foam for the chair. Weeks later it was the upholstery needles for
stitching.
Yes, this took a long time but the chair is finally done and I
have the comfort of knowing I didn’t spend money we didn’t have for this
chair. My husband has enjoyed the
comfort of sitting at his computer at home and being comfortable. He says
“I wish I could use this chair at work.”
“I wish I could use this chair at work.”
The idea of waiting and buying things as you can afford them is
not new. It is an old timer’s habit,
think of your grandparents or great grandparents. To not spend money you don’t
have, to be willing to let things take the time they need to take to work
themselves out is the wisdom of old timers.
I hope I can develop this habit of theirs. It can be a very hard thing to do things this
way, being patient. Sometimes I just
want to finish a project, to be done with it.
I think obtaining patience will be a lifelong pursuit of mine.
Materials Cost
Upholstery Fabric- 63.00
Upholstery thread- 3.00
Sandpaper- 1.00
Wood stain- 5.00
Wood filler – left over from another project 0.00
Upholstery tacks- 16.00
Badding- left over from another project 0.00
Stuffing- left over from another project 0.00
Chair foam- 25.00
Upholstery needles 5.00
Total Cost
118.00
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