Kelly Seeks

So, like many young and military families, a lot of our furniture is from Craigslist and thrift stores.  With us moving as much as we do, it just doesn’t make sense to buy new, expensive furniture.  The new stuff that we can afford is usually made out of particle board, which is fine, but does not survive moves that well.  We are better off buying higher quality, used furniture that is made of solid wood.  It weathers the packing and moving much better, and is easy to refinish as needed.

That said, some of the furniture is badly in need of a facelift when we get it.  Case in point, our kitchen table and chairs.  I loved the sturdiness of the set, the traditional look, and the fact that it could easily seat six.  What I did not love was the layer of army issue rain poncho that someone had stapled on as a cushion cover.

Did it protect the chair from spills?  Yes.  Did it match the decor in our home?  NO.   I decided to recover the chairs, and found two more layers of fabric from previous DIYers underneath.

Oh my.  After prying those off and removing more staples than I could count, I was ready to staple our new fabric on (a great faux suede I got from Walmart).

After recovering the chairs, I realized I wanted to protect this fabric from my two little mess-makers.  I kept reading mixed reviews about the chair covers that were available on Amazon, so I decided to go a different route.  I ended up getting clear shower curtain liners from Walmart and cutting them to size and stapling over the fabric when I was recovering my chairs.  They are easy enough to replace if they get torn or dingy and relatively inexpensive when you compare the cost with buying new fabric.

I am loving how they turned out, especially knowing I won’t freak out every time we have a spill (which is like every five seconds!)  🙂

*Note I tried using clear tablecloths as well, and found the material to be too thin.  They didn’t stand up to the every day wear and tear as well as the shower curtain liners.