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Chair Rescue: From Hot Mess to Hot Mama

by on Aug 28, 2014

Shelly Leer This chair rescue is like none you’ve ever seen. Barb, a nurse during the day and a furniture rehab addict at night, was the intrepid soul who bought the chair and decided to lug it to an upholstery class taught by my blog-friends-forever, reupholstery genius, and fellow Curblier Shelly Leer (aka ModHomeEcTeacher). Shelly told me the story and showed me the pictures of the chair earlier this week, and it was just too remarkable not to share. First, what was keeping the chair together! Would you believe suspenders and a legging? Yup. They were holding the bottom in place. I’m assuming the chair was a bit ‘tippy,’ because a previous owner tucked a railroad spike into a sock which was tacked inside to add weight to the front of the chair. Oye!

A dirty green chair in a garage need reupholstering.Shelly Leer

Through course of the class, all that nastiness was discarded and the chair was shored up from the inside out.

An old brown chair on a grey floor.Shelly Leer

New padding was added, of course. (Looking better already!)

A white chair with brown legs on a grey floor.Shelly Leer

Barb’s original intention was to recover the chair in an aqua-colored velvet. Having a keen modern eye, Shelly gently suggested that she go with something a bit less benign, namely an orange wool fabric Shelly had on her studio shelves. If you’re fans of Curbly, you’ll know Ms. Mod isn’t exactly keen on antiques like this one, but the contrast with the modern fabric made Shelly go ga-ga. She fell in love with the chair. So hard, in fact, that she traded Barb a free class for the chair, which is now in Shelly’s living room!

Hot Mama!:

"A Wooden Couch covered with Orange Towel"Shelly Leer

And for comparison, the original hot mess:

A damaged chair sitting on a concrete area, possibly awaiting its renovation to soon be.Shelly Leer

I know what you’re thinking: too bad we don’t live closer to Shelly’s home base of Indianapolis to take one of her classes. Well, guess what? Shelly’s now offering an ON LINE reupholstery bootcamp class. She’s running an ‘early bird’ discount on tuition good until 7am EDT September 2, 2014. The class itself begins September 15th. For more information about the bootcamp and to enroll visit this page on ModHomeEc. And to get updates on Shelly’s future online courses, click here. 

Thank you, Shelly, for the exclusive!

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4 Comments

  1. Barbara

    I had never seen the “before” of that chair and I had no idea how much work went into it!   Good job, Barb!

  2. Anonymous

    You are a genius, Barb. The chair is beautiful and I love the material too.          I have a sofa, chair and piano bench waiting on you.    Love your mother.