New dining room chairs! Well, sorta new....

I think I was a dumpster diver in a former life. Ok, so that's kind of gross...let me rephrase. I think I was probably a flea market addict, a bargain hunter, an antique collector...you get the idea.  But really, if you ask my husband, I have been known to bring home objects that some might consider garbage.  Take my new (well, repurposed) dining room chairs.  On our way home a few weeks ago, I saw these beauties sitting on the side of the road near our apartment. Dave, of course, thought I was insane for wanting to drag them inside, but I saw something special in them beyond their ugly 1960s chipped cream paint and ripped green laminate seat exterior. Nothing that a little paint and fabric can't fix, eh? And luckily I was right - several coats of black paint and some updated colorful upholstery later, we had four new dining room chairs. The painting process did take a few days (between stripping them down, painting on the primer and several coats of black paint), however, the seat recovering only took about an hour.  All in all the extra labor was totally worth the result. :)

This is what they looked like before...

Seat cushions removed...

Stripped and primed...

I cut the fabric a few inches wider than the seat cushion all the way around and then staple gunned each side once to start.

Once I got all four sides nailed down, I went all the way around with staples while pulling the fabric tight.  Then, for the corners, I folded the fabric in (nicely like a present :) and stapled those down as well.

And voila!

These are the chairs post 3 coats of black paint...

And here they are with the cushions put back in...

So pretty!!! :