My "French Country" chairs are done!

I am so happy that this task is finally behind me! My dining room chairs are done and I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out. I bought my dining room suite and matching hutch at an auction a few years back, but the upholstery was, shall I say, quite hideous! The set is light in color as you can see, but the chairs were upholstered in black, gold and red stripes. I'm not sure how that went with the hand painted floral sprays, but that is how they were and I was bound and determined to reupholster them myself. The seats were professionally done and the job looked amazing...but the fabric just didn't cut it!

I searched around and found some fabric last year, but decided I didn't like it after all so I was on the hunt for new fabric! I am going toward more of a French and French Country style in my home, especially in my kitchen/dining/family room, so I decided that this was a great moment to seize the opportunity and "French" up my chairs a little. One day while I was wandering down the aisles of Joann Fabrics, I came across this absolutely heavenly fabric by Waverly called "Saison de Printemps" or Season of Spring. I just love it as it's decorated with beautiful ovals with roses and scrolls, chickens and roosters and flower baskets with flowing bows. It was a little pricey at $30 per yard, but all of their decorator fabric just happened to be on sale at 50% off. Bingo! I purchased three yards and off I went. By the way, I also happened to notice in the new JCPenney catalog that I just received they have curtain panels and valances to match this fabric. Hmmm...

It was abit hard with the way the designs were placed to not waste a tremendous amount of fabric so I opted for a random look on the four chairs that are in the middle of the table and I had placed one of the larger ovals on both of the captains chairs on each end. I also have two barstools that sit on the other side of the counter so those I covered with a lovely, large rooster in the center. It was a nightmare getting all of the old piping, etc. off and when it was finally done I spent about 12 hours doing these seats, but it was definitely worth the backache and the sore arm from stapling and hammering in the staples! I love the way they look now and it gave me confidence to get going on a pretty little chair for my bedroom that I've had sitting in my garage for quite some time. It was a job well done and much easier than I thought! If I can do it, anyone can! Until next time, ~Stacy~ xo