What Else Do You Do on the Night Before the First Day Back?

So...my sister, bless her kind soul, showed up at my class at 7:30pm with an Extreme Bull in hand for me. An EB is a white Monster with flavoring added created by our very own Winegars.  Yes, something I needed to help propel my working ability, no, I didn't really need it at 7:30 at night!! So what do I do? Start a blog! Of course! I need to be at my LID day in 6 hours, but who cares how bad I look! Because I am BLOGGING!

Two days ago, room a mess, the countdown to school starting ticking in my brain, I decide to go for that Pinterest craft. You know...that one always calling your name...the one you dream about but never get to...that one. No, not the furniture made from pallets THAT ain't happening any time soon. The EASY (LOL) craft...the one the poster claims is SO easy your 93 year old, blind grandmother could do it.

I bought a sheet from Fred Meyer for $5 on sale and decided to embark on covering the old, hideously ugly and stained, blah blue office chairs. I got me a drill, the sheet, and a strong desire and plunked myself down in the middle of the classroom.

The bottom of the chair was easy to remove, just a few screws and there it was! The top, however, was a totally different story. No visible access...and there I was STUCK in the middle of the *easy* Pinterest craft.

What does a teacher do? Go to her Social Media of course! I Tweeted, Facebooked, and Instagrammed to no avail. I started searching Pinterest only to realize every chair EVER done on there was not my style of chair. What are the chances? In my life, pretty damn good. After wasting a good 15 minutes I decided it was time to SOLVE this problem. I'm good enough, strong enough, and people like me (personal pep talk from SNL).

So...I poked and prodded and realized I could lift the edge just enough to fit the sheet in. I realized I needed something to hold open the space while I shot in the hot glue. I found...what else, pencils! The closest thing to grab. I pried the chair apart with my flathead screwdriver, replaced it with the pencil, squeezed in the hot glue, then used the flat head to push the sheet into the crevice.

 

By the way, many tutorials talked about removing the old fabric, all the staples, nails, etc. and starting with the foam. I don't know about you, but as a teacher, no one has time for that. I just went right over the top of the old fabric with no problem.

 

Flathead screwdriver in action.

 

Here it is! The finished top!!

And Viola! A cheerful chair!!

Most of the blogs talk about using upholstery fabric on the chair. I totally get that...the sheet will only last so long...but, a sheet was a good starting point: It was cheap, it was cute, and it will last quite a while.

Supplies needed for two of these office chairs :
1 flat sheet
Flathead screwdriver
Pencils, or other objects to hold open the crevice
Hot glue
Scissors
Drill gun preferably

So...here is all you need to know to upcycle the hideous chair in your room. Go out and make the world a more beautiful place...one chair at a time :)