Here's my latest furniture redo...
A fixed up chair we found on the side of the road.

You read that right...it was FREE!
This has taken me so long, but I love how it turned out!

The perfect photo prop vintage style carved queen throne!

Step 1: The Beginning...

Here's how it began.
We drove to a nearby hiking trail as a family.
After jogging 5 miles we returned home...to see this
chair tossed out on the curb a few houses down.
(It was my payback from God for jogging 5 miles)

Well, it was missing a bolt that holds the leg on...and the
middle cross bar was detached...but there!
We snagged it fast! Easy fix was under $1 at the depot.

I thought I would sand it down and stain it black.
Ya, bad idea. I just wouldn't be able to sand off all the
existing stain to make it look good.

But I tried it.
And it was that bad. bad. At this point, I gave up.

Step 2: Do-over...in Aqua!

It sat as a fail for a while.

Then I convinced myself to just paint it.

I know many of you are cringing and agonizing over my decision...it was gorgeous wood to begin with!
I realized it might not seem like a "fix it and IMPROVE it" to you...

But, it was free...so I did what I wanted...and improved it for us! :)

So I removed all cushions and about 8 million staples!
Ahh, so many staples--someone was probably paid per staple!

Okay, then I painted it AQUA! I had aqua paint on hand...so I brushed it on!
(sidenote: yes, my husband is sick of aqua. I am not)

To make all the intricate carvings pop, I glazed it with some charcoal colored glaze.
The carvings were so cool and ornate, I didn't want to just paint it black.
I wanted them to show.

Step 3: Recovering...reupholstery...revamp

Then I did the upholstery.
With a pinstriped black fabric...I had on hand from many Halloweens ago...
Cut fabric about 4 inches wider than the backboard.
I had 2 backboard pieces, since the chair shows through the backside.
First one with the padding.

I used hot glue and wrapped the fabric around the backboard tightly.
Holding it until the glue set.
Fold the corners to avoid unnecessary wrinkled corners
A tight snug pull...

The other backboard piece I did, it was
much easier because it is not padded.

Then the seat.
I started using my staple tacker...but the staples were too long,
so I pulled out the hand staple gun.
Until it was all tucked and pulled! I am quite the plastic surgeon!

Step 4: Reattaching!

Now for attaching said pieces to the chair.
I started with the seat. 4 screws easily reattach the seat base. Easy.
Then the backboard.
I took the unpadded board that I covered and stapled in place.
The tricky part was attaching the padded backboard to that piece!

I ended up just scooching the fabric and padding to the side and stapling
through the board into the other backboard and chair...
does that even make sense?
Anyways, it cause some puckering...so I just went with it and made
it symmetrical.

I found a piece of scrap piping I had laying around
and hot glued it in the crevice between the padded backboard and the wood chair frame.

Step 5: Finished Product--fit for a QUEEN!

Done! Its beautiful and fit for a queen! Or all our royal photo shoots!

Give it a damask black and white pillow, and she is set!

Hope you enjoyed my TRASH to TREASURE tutorial! :)
If you see this as a Fix and Improve Instructable...vote for me!

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