Melissa DIY refinishes and reupholsters her 1950s dinette and Cosco high chair: Fabulous!
pam kueber - December 8, 2011, Updated: November 10, 2020
Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.
“Before”
Remember this recent story about how to reupholster vintage dinette chairs affordably? Well, reader Melissa used the video shown to tackle doing the upholstery herself — both on the dinette chairs and a vintage Cosco high chair she found for $3.12. Melissa also used steel wool to polish the chrome, and achieved what looks to be perfect results. Oh my goodness — her DIY project turned out beautifully — you go, girl! Read on for Melissa’s story of triumph…
Mel writes:
Very impressive job, Mel!
Hello!
I’m always checking out your website, because I love retro and mid century modern style. I know your always putting people’s projected on your site. And I thought you might like to put mine up 🙂
I have refinished a 1950’s table and chairs as well as a high chair. I bought the table and chairs off craigslist about two years ago for about a $100… I bought the fabric for about $50… and then the steel wooling started. I thought it was going to be much harder than it actually was, and I was pretty worried it was not going to turn out well. But I surprised myself. and everything turned out better than I could have ever imagined.
Yes, who among us has not purchased and refinished a vintage Cosco high chair — before we actually had a baby for it?
Then a few weeks ago I spotted a retro high chair at the thrift store for $3.12. I thought to myself well I don’t have any kids, and that would be stupid for me to buy. But I could just couldn’t resist it for only $3.12. So I thought, well, I could refinish it and sell it. But now that I have it done and it looks so good, I feel like I need to save it for when I have a child lol.
I asked Melissa whether she used the video I featured on my site, and also quizzed her on where she got the supplies. She said:
I did use her video. But I did not know it was on your site, I just googled “reupholster retro chairs” and eventually found that video. I bought the fabric from Beatrice, the lady in the video. I had originally emailed her to find out where I could buy that type of vinyl, because the only kind I was finding was the kind with backing or non plyable. Then she just told me I could buy it from her. So I did 🙂 I also got the white piping-piece from her. I had my mom help me with them, I thought four hands would be better than two. And we did it in the middle of the hot summer on my front porch with the heater on us — lol it was HOT.
Mel
Thank you, Mel, for this inspiration. Of course, I asked Mel what else she had going on in her house. More to come maybe! 🙂
Phyllis says
How much material to recover chair seat and back?
Pam Kueber says
Phyllis, given this story is from 2011, I don’t know if Melissa is still monitoring this thread… we’ll see.