Adventures in Reupholstery

As part of the ongoing effort to furnish and beautify my home on a shoestring budget, I recently decided to reupholster my dining room chairs. Our local fabric store was having a summer sale (50% off everything!) so I enlisted the Looch to come shopping.

Here's what happened: We chose 4 or 5 bolts that seemed to fit into the color palette I was aiming for. Walked through the entire store three times while holding up said bolts to compare to more options. Put everything back in it's place and decided we needed a snack to make up our minds. Laughed at our ridiculous inability to make decisions. Picked up a completely different fabric, laughed about how it was the exact opposite of all the other choices, and then brought it to the front to be cut. About thirty minutes with the staple gun later (MAGIC!):

Since I didn't want any of the chairs to have the same pattern, I was able to buy less fabric and still achieve a cohesive theme. I added a layer of padding for extra comfort from an old twin bed egg-crate the Looch had saved from college dorm room days.

And here's the entire room:

Final Budget:

Dining table and chairs: $50 (Craigslist)

Fabric: $12

Hutch: $120 (Craigslist)

Birdcage: $10 at a garage sale

Antique globe: $7

Things inside the hutch: FREE

Light Fixture: $35 (eBay)

Cowhide Rug: $130 (eBay)

Curtains: FREE

Painting: $30 for the canvas, $8 for the paint, 45 minutes to "drip" in the backyard

Total: $402.00

This is the ONLY room in my house that is pretty much completely styled. Yes I still need to hang a few things (nevermind those antlers on top of the hutch), re-center the light fixture so it's actually over the table, and maybe work on getting some place settings. But whatevs! I'm calling it complete for now.