How to make a monogrammed chair

By Julie on November 18th, 2019
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how to make a monogrammed chair on your embroidery machine

Making a monogrammed chair has been a project stuck in the back of my mind for a long time. Until this weekend, however, I never had the motivation or reason to do it. But, when I recently decided to make an effort to spruce up our living room, I spotted an opportunity.

I noticed that an ugly folding chair had taking up permanent residence in our living room. This is because, when my son’s piano teacher comes each week, he needs a place to sit while instructing our little Mozart. In a pinch, we brought out a folding chair, but it has remained next to the piano ever since.

On a mission to upgrade our living room decor

The chair project is part of an overall mission to upgrade our living room decor. And, I’m proud to report that in the last few weeks, I have made some really big strides.

We had one large blank wall for years in our living room which felt cold and stark and just needed something. But I couldn’t figure out exactly what.

I’m always on the lookout for good picture frames at local Goodwills because they can so easily be repurposed. If you can find a pre-bought frame that suits your needs, you can save a ton of money on framing. So, when I spotted three elegant large wood frames for four dollars each I snapped him up despite the fact that they were silver and had no glass and I had no idea what I was going to do with them.

These frames sat in my workspace for a year or so before I figured out their ultimate destiny. I painted them black and finished them with shiny polyurethane and got new glass cut ($11/ea) for all three. But then, what to put in the frames?

I recalled that my friend told me about pictures online from the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis (my hometown) which were really incredible. I checked out the link, and she was by no means exaggerating. The images were amazing! 1904 St. Louis looks like modern Las Vegas, but much more elegant and with less neon. Anyway, I downloaded and printed the images and fit them into the frames even reusing the original mats. All in all the entire project cost less than $50, and I finally have some decent art on the wall that actually has a meaning in a story to it.

So getting back to the monogrammed chair…

While the folding chair used by Jake, the piano teacher is totally functional, it is also super ugly. So, I thought what about creating a super cute, monogrammed chair small enough to tuck away in the corner, but can easily be pulled out for piano teacher seating. And what if this chair was actually really cute so that it enhances the decor instead of detracts from it?

Finding the perfect chair to monogram

I set out on a mission to find the perfect chair to makeover, and recruited my mother-in-law as my accomplice. When she was in town last week visiting, I dragged her around to our local “antique” stores to search for a treasure. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to find the perfect specimen.

The chair I settled on was small enough to be unobtrusive, simple enough to not be fussy and hard to paint, and most importantly, had the requisite upholstered area that I could pop out and modify. And the best part about it all was that the chair cost $15.

chair in need of a monogram makeover — Oh man, this chair needs a makeover

Forging ahead with the monogrammed chair

These are the kinds of projects that I really don’t share with my husband because he just doesn’t get it. However, I’m assuming that this is going to go much like my framed Worlds Fair art. He was not exactly supportive, but, of course he likes it a lot now that it’s up. Haters gonna hate. Right.

So I plowed forward with my chair makeover and left him out of it. I will graciously except his complements when all is said and done.

How I made my monogrammed chair

The first thing I needed to do was to remove the cushion from the chair. Fortunately, it was simply a matter of unscrewing four screws from underneath the chair that were holding on to the cushion.

Then, I roughed up the wood frame and sprayed it with grey primer. I found a brand that touted its ability to cover imperfections. I thought that was probably a good thing.

In between rounds of spray painted, I ran down to my sewing room and stitched out this elegant monogram design that I had digitized a while back on some plush, grey upholstery fabric. Note: the G is for my last name.

Next, I sprayed my chair, with a few coats of high gloss black spray paint.

Finally I covered the old cushion with my new, embroidered fabric, using a staple gun to secure the fabric to the cushion, being careful to center the design on the cushion.

Finally, I secured the cushion back onto the chair, screwing it in the same way I took it out. And voila! Now I have a stylish spot for the piano teacher and can say goodbye to the folding chair.