Friday, May 27, 2011
Part of the grand plan for my new house involves a dining room table.  Yes, I have big dreams.  I'd like a place to sit an eat.

More specifically, I want a white, slightly distressed table, not to big, but big enough to easily seat 4, not expensive, but well made and sturdy.  Turns out, that combination is pretty hard to find.  No one apparently wants a white kitchen table.  I'm not quite sure why.... I think it'll look super. 

So, since I have something very specific in mind for said table, and I couldn't find it, I decided just to make it myself.  I found a table and 4 chairs on sale on craigslist for $150, which I actually only paid $140 for because no one had the right cash to make exact change for $150.  I had big plans to sand and paint the table (which is currently a plain pine color) before I moved, but I started packing, and that project never happened.  I did manage to get the 4 chair cushions off before the movers came, so I decided to send the wood part of the chairs with the movers, and keep the cushions to reupholster while I was home.  Mostly because my mom can sew WAY better than I can, and everyone needs a good mother/daughter project!  Over the last week or so, we've slowly plugged away on reupholstering the cushions, and I'm excited to say they're DONE!  And they look super, in my humble opinion.  Here's how it all went down.

First we went to JoAnn fabric and found a pattern that would work with the table (white) and the wall color (chocolate brown and grey/taupe).  Then we spread it on the floor, and put the old cushions on top.  I'm not really sure why we did that, but it made for a nice way to show you the old cushions and new fabric...

The first order of business was to take the old fabric off the cushions.  This involved me, a flathead screwdriver, a pair of pliers, 2 days, 3 bandaids, and I approximate the removal of 1000 staples.  There were three layers to remove:  backing, welting, and actual cover fabric.

That quantity of staple prying undoubtedly results in the formation of lots of blisters...
In the end, we had a pile of old fabric, and uncovered chair cushions.  While I was de-stapling everything, my mom was busy cutting the fabric, ironing backing onto it (the fabric was super-stretching and would have gotten all wonky when we stretched it over the cushion without backing...), and cutting and sewing welting to finish the cushions.

Once all the fabric was cut and ready, we stapled the fabric onto the cushions.  It was probably the easiest part of the whole process! 

Then we stapled on the welting around the edges, and voili!  Reupholstered seat cushions!  I think they look way better than the old ones...

Now I just have to sand the table and chairs... then prime them, the paint them, then paint them again, the sand them, then glaze them, then poly them...  And I'll be done!  I'd say I'm at LEAST 20% of the way to a new dining room table and chairs...

I can't wait to show you the finished product.

It may take a while.

A girl's gotta have ambitions.

PS.  I'd say I did about 17% of the actual skilled work on this project, and my mom did the rest.  So props to her.  I do claim responsibility for most of the hard labor, though! 

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About Me

I am a Family Medicine intern at a community hospital in Indiana, navigating the new world of being a physician. I am privileged to work in a field I love, where every day is a new and unpredictable challenge.
I am not only a doctor, but also a cyclist, runner, DIYer in the making, lover of the outdoors, traveler, and human.
Human, MD is a glimpse into the world of a young doctor who is just trying to stay true to herself through the grueling whirlwind of residency.

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