The Problem: When Judy Stanley first saw the little armless chair at a garage sale down the street from her Los Gatos home, it looked a little sad. The fabric was worn. It smelled musty. But it reminded her of a chair her grandmother had passed down to her — a chair she spent a fortune to recover — and she decided to buy it. She put down $5, took it home and vowed to recover it herself this time.
Solution No. 1: Her daughter was nearly one year old and the idea of a charming little chair with a dust ruffle sounded just right. So Judy, who has her own business designing and decorating belt buckles, went to work.
“I wanted it to be really girly and pink,” Judy said. So off she went to Calico Corners and with $40 bought two fabrics — a plaid blue and pink and a floral.
As she pulled off the old fabric, she used each piece — the seat, the back and the front — as a pattern for the new fabric. She cut out the pieces and folded and ironed the edges to the exact dimensions. Then with her staple gun, affixed it into place. A pretty piece of ribbon trimmed the seams.
Solution No. 2: By the time her daughter was in third grade and Judy and her husband, Guy, had completed a major remodel, it was time to focus on their son’s room.
The girly chair had been relegated to the attic and the time was right to pull it down.
Judy took her four-year-old son with her to Beverly’s Fabrics this time and mother and son chose a vintage-style cowboy fabric. Each horse head had a name — Maverick, Mojave, Juniper, Freckles.
Just as she did the first time, Judy used the old fabric as a template for the cowboy fabric. Her son is seven now and she has no plans, at least for now, of recovering the chair again.
“I love that chair,” she said. “It’s so cute.”
Here are some other stories you might enjoy:
Judy’s Small House Remodeled
Modern Nursery With Vintage Flair
Updating from Little Girl to Tween Room
Updating Kid’s Playhouse to Tween Club House
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