Furry Desk Chair: Pottery Barn Hack

Earlier this week, I shared the new desk I rescued from the trash. Our totally cool design-minded teenage daughter quickly laid claim on this fun piece. {Click here or on the photo to see that post}

I’m sure you savvy readers were wondering, “What about that snazzy chair?”

Well, it looked like this when we first moved the desk into her room. If this chair is not something that you can imagine in your room, that’s ok! With options like the chairs you can find if you just check over here or ones you’ve seen from a catalogue, you’ll find something that suits your aesthetic and personal taste.

Because it’s a very well made chair from a children’s furniture store, it was not something we were willing to just cast off. We both felt that the chair kind of clashed with the new desk.

Initially, we had found a super fabulous geometric fabric to recover the chair in.

Covington Belami in Raspberry

Just one problem, kind of a big problem. It was way out of the budget. I figured I needed just over a yard, but with minimum orders, it was going to cost over $80. Um, no thanks. I spent the next few weeks searching for a suitable replacement, to no avail.

I can’t really remember what made me think of fur, probably an image where a rug was thrown over a modern chair somewhere. But then I went searching online I found this Furlicious Argo Chair from Pottery Barn Teen. It didn’t take much convincing to get our teenager to see this was the perfect solution.

Hunting down quality fur was now my task. If I lived any where near an Ikea, I could have easily used one of their little furry rugs for this. But I decidedly do not live near an Ikea and for the life of me can’t figure out why they don’t ship more of their items???

So, I was left searching at my local craft stores. Luckily for me there is a very good selection of fur out right now on the discount table. Maybe because of Halloween??

In addition to the obvious reupholstering, the metal legs and arms got a brighter finish with some Rustoleum Brushed Nickel spray paint.

Here are some “in the process” photos.

Because this is a high quality chair and can see us keeping for a very long time, I opted to cover the seat with plastic wrap during the spray painting process. Never know how long the fur will last or when we will think it’s not as cool. 😉

The seat and little arm rest were an easy staple gun project. Starting in the corners and making my way around the seat, securing sections with staples was all it took.

For the seat back, we both thought the chair would look better if the bar across the back was covered.

To do this, I decided to make a quasi slip cover. I laid the back cushion on the fabric and traced the front and back shape onto the fur and cut them out.

I pinned the two pieces together, with the cushion inside, then sewed the two pieces with my sewing machine.

You’ll notice I didn’t pin all the way to the bottom. I needed to leave an opening for the fur to slip over the back support bar of the seat back.

Once we put the chair back together, I hand stitched the fur closed tucking in the sides and going around the bar with a large needle and a heavy duty thread. The long fur hid all my stitches nicely.

Then our super-cool teenager had a hip, new, furry chair to go with her “new” mid century modern desk.

Here’s the down low on the fabric. I purchased this “grizzly white” fabric at JoAnn’s on sale for only $8.99 a yard. So, ended up spending about $15 because I purchased 1.5 yards. Turns out I probably could have gotten away with a little less, but I can always make a furry pillow, right? 😉

And while the fur isn’t as long and luxurious as the PB Teen version, it is quite furry and soft. She hasn’t noticed much in the way of shedding, but the backer lining is a little thin. If you were to comb the fur and make a part, you could definitely see the light purple color underneath. I could have covered the cushions in a white liner first, but decided it was fine.

If you wanted to create your own furry chair and needed to purchase a some Office Furniture, such as a desk chair at a thrift store, you definitely spend a whole lot less than PB Teen chair for $239. But if you were so inclined to make your own, I’d buy your grizzly bear fabric sooner than later. I don’t think this fur is a regular item. ~~Or you could be one of those lucky souls who live near an Ikea and then you could buy a super furry rug anytime you want.~~ 😉