Here is a "before" shot of one of the red chairs on my parents' front porch that I decided to overhaul. The rattan caning on the seat looked fine, but it was beginning to rot in the Florida humidity and needed to be replaced. Hence, a trip to Hancock Fabrics was a must! John and I had had the chairs powder coated bright red a few months before when they had begun to flake.
Gang:
I am currently down at my parents’ home in Tampa, Florida, but I fly to Los Angeles tomorrow and I can’t wait. Stay tuned for some West Coast design updates.
Meanwhile, whenever I come down to Tampa I always like to get a few projects going. But I am just not sure if I terrorize my Mom and Dad with my myriad putterings-about. For example, Lois and Jary (aka, Mom and Dad) do not seem to be too keen on my idea to transform their guest house into a Chinoiserie Chateau, a Palace of Pagoda Perfection. Stay tuned to see if I win this battle and get to lacquer their furniture and wallpaper their bathroom with a scenic scene from Peking back in the day.
Well, here’s one project that I did tackle today. My parents have terrific vintage French cafe chairs on their front porch, but they were getting a bit downtrodden and the rattan caning on the seats was beginning to rot. A few months back I had my parents powder coat the chairs as the original red paint was peeling off.
And then more recently I tackled the rattan caning. The rattan was not especially comfortable and was crumbling, so John and I decided to create custom seat covers with a very graphic indoor-outdoor fabric that we picked up for a song at Hancock Fabrics. I took one of the original rattan seats up to New York after my last visit to Florida to have our terrific upholstery guru craft five matching seat cushions in a festive Carnival print.
And, voila!, here are the results. The chairs offer a big punch of color and are far more comfortable than before. Success!
Now how do I convince Mom and Dad that a Chinoiserie-styled, painted bar and matching disco ball are must-have accessories for the guest house. To be continued…
Here are the new seat cushions crafted of an indoor-outdoor fabric from Hancock Fabrics awaiting their star turn.
Jary removes the old rattan caning with a saw so that we could re-use the wood frame that sits within a lip in the chairs.
While my Dad and I worked on recovering the front porch chairs, my Mom practiced her hula hooping skills.
After my Dad used the saw to remove the edges of the rattan caning, I peeled off the remaining fibers and nails to create a clean base that could be then attached to the new seat cushions.
Getting ready to screw the new upholstered seat cushions to the original wooden frame that sits within a narrow lip on the chairs. I had the cushions made with a hollow center in their wooden frame to allow them to drain if they get wet in the rain or after a good hose-down.
The big reveal! And here are the five front porch dining chairs in all of their recovered glory. The seat covers can be popped off the chair to be hosed down, and the new fabric adds a "pop" of color that was lacking with the rattan caning, n'est-ce pas?
Tags: DIY, Front porch, Hancock Fabrics, Jason Oliver Nixon, John Loecke, Madcap Cottage, Porch furniture, Powder coating, Red, Seat cushions
FABULOUS!
Omg! Too funny – I totally just picked out that same fabric to do on some dining chairs. Those look awesome with the red!