Thursday, January 9, 2014

Adding Decorative Nailheads to Upholstery

I finally finished my first major re-upholstery. Yippee!! I have completed smaller projects like the slip cover for our nursery ottoman and glider and upholstered our dining room chairs, but nothing like this. The worst parts, honestly, were pulling the staples. Next in line would be the wings and T-Shaped cushion.

I first saw the chair at our local Goodwill one night and saw that it had been marked down from $25 to $10. At first glance, the chair was in good shape and I had been wanting to try reupholstering a piece for a while. My first inclination was to not buy the chair because the costs of reupholstering a piece can certainly end up costing more than just buying a new chair - a really nice one I might add. It all depends on the fabric.

So, I talked myself out of it. But, that's all I thought about the whole night. I even wished the chair to still be there so I could go buy it first thing the next morning. And, I did just that. I drove to the Goodwill, toddler in tow, and got that chair!!!

I knew the fabric was the next battle. Since this chair was going to go in our bedroom, I didn't want to spend a lot on fabric. So, I again loaded up the toddler and we went to a local fabric store. I browsed the rows of fabric not seeing anything I liked. I was about to leave disappointed when I spotted two rolls of remnant fabric in a bin near the back. I looked at the price - $3.48/yard!!! I almost hit the floor and I started looking around like I was a burglar so no one else would snag MY fabric as I tried to remove the roll from the bin and still keep little man upright in his stroller.

I prayed as I walked to the counter that there was enough fabric on the roll. It was!! 5 yards. I knew some of the fabric was not exactly 5 yards since this was a remnant piece, but I knew that the shorter pieces would work for the arms and wings of the chair. The other roll of the same fabric had 2 yards on it so I bought both -- just in case.

I am not going to bore you with a tutorial - an my camera flaked on me so I don't have all of the photos - Ugh!!. But, here is a really good tutorial I found that I basically followed:
{RE-Upholstering 101}.

Adding the Nail Head trim was an easy process once the fabric was attached.

I purchased the nail heads (not Nailhead Trim- there is a difference) at Joann's. They were $1.99 for a box of 24. I purchased 3 boxes just in case.


They were labeled as Upholstery Decorative Nails so I tried to just hammer them into the front of the arm one at a time with a hammer {a Rubber Mallet is on my tools wish list - using a metal hammer could damage the finish on the NailHeads}. When every NailHead broke with each swing of the hammer, I began to get really frustrated. 

I took a break from the chair and went inside the house {I work in the garage at night due to little man sleeping}. Ah, sleep!! My hubby who is a genius sometimes said I should use a Pilot hole. 

So, I began using Pilot holes. In essence, the wood was too hard for the NailHeads to get through along with all of the batting and fabric. I used the hammer and  a nail to drive a hole. I would then stick the NailHead into the same hole after removing the nail. You do need to be quick about this because the woven fabric will close up again quickly making the Pilot Hole invisible. 

Also, make sure you use a tool to measure the distance between each NailHead so they will look uniform. 

So, there you have it - how to add Decorative Nail Head Trim. 

Here are a few photos of the finished product: 

Decorative Nail Heads {Unfinished Chair}





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