I’ve been busy! The Chick’s business has picked up considerably in the last couple of months, and I couldn’t be more excited!

Today, I want to share with you my latest client project:

The Ride.

It might not be obvious, but this thing rocks and spins like nobody’s business! It’s like taking a ride on a bull!

The Ride came to me though a client, and she and her grown son were so excited to have me do the work for them. (BTW – the more excited you are, the more excited I am!) Almost before the chair was in the house, the son said,

“I need to tell you about this chair. We call it ‘The Ride’.”

He proceeds to tell me stories of him and his cousins playing in this chair for hours, rocking and swiveling it all over the place. To be honest – he made it sound like a lot of fun! The whole time he told me his story, his hand was on the top of the chair, like it was an old friend. His mom says that eventually, he will inherit this chair, and I can tell that he is totally excited about this fact.

The Ride was in good condition, but it needed some love. It had been reupholstered once before, in the 70’s. (Found a date and initials inside – I love finding that stuff!) Needless to say, the foam and stuffing had given up the ghost.

Yep – that’s foam!  The springs were also starting to sag a bit, making it difficult to get out of the chair easily. And while foam and springs are not the most exciting part of upholstery (let’s face it – it’s all about the fabric), they ARE the most important part to giving you a comfortable seat! The Ride was fun, alright, but it was no longer comfortable. I helped my client choose some fantastic, springy foam (did you know there’s different types?), and promised her that her chair was in good hands.

I completely stripped it back, all the way to the frame. (A very messy process on all chairs. I’ll share pics some other day.) I removed the old saggy seat springs and put in new springs.

That is as naked as a chair gets, folks.

From there, I started building things back up. First came the synthetic burlap to support the foam and keep it from falling through the springs. And added an edge roll to the front, so it would be comfortable for the back of legs.

Isn’t it amazing how it’s already starting to look like a real chair? And we’ve only just gotten started!

Next, I added foam and polyester batting. This creates the overall shape of the chair.

Oh. And Cherry Garcia helped, too.

Once I’m at this point, it starts to get really exciting because – FABRIC!

I started with the arms. After I refinished the wood parts, I added foam and polyester batting. And then, one at a time, I ADDED FABRIC!

By this point, I’m almost giddy with excitement, because you know what comes next!

Drumroll… (no in-between pics here – I’m too excited to stop!)

The NEW Ride in town!

Aaaaahhh!! I can hardly contain myself! So cute!

Here’s a side-by-side:

My clients loved it! And I couldn’t have been any happier about their enthusiasm.

Now I’m going to take a nap. What do YOU think of the new Ride?