Thrift store love & my new chairs

A few weeks ago Handy Andy and I took a trip to a local thrift store. He was looking for some new flannel shirts (oh yeah), and I was looking for anything I could use in a scrapbook and maybe a picture frame. I found a few fun things, including Scrabble tiles, some vintage-looking cards and an excellent frame.

While I was rummaging around, I passed by the furniture section and came across these chairs that I instantly loved. There were three of them, but I only bought two. They were $5 each.

Ok, so they don't look like much, but I loved the look of them and I had been looking for another little something to put in my living room. I had seen a chair I really loved from Target:

The problem? For starters, it was about $200 over budget. Also, it was a little too big for the open spot in my living room.

So, back to my thrift-store chairs. I had read Centsational Girl's blog post about refinishing a thrift-store chair, so when I saw these chairs I thought (in true Handy Andy fashion) "I can do that!" I brought them home and prepared for the refinishing. I gathered the following supplies (most from Handy Andy's collection):

1. Spray paint
2. Staple gun
3. Scissors
4. Sandpaper
5. Amazing fabric (that I bought from JoAnn's - on sale!)

Next, I took the seats off by flipping the chairs over and unscrewing the four screws that held the seats on.

I lightly sanded the chairs all over and wiped them down with a damp cloth. Then spray paint. My mom was visiting, so that was her job while I worked on painting another project I'll share later.

While the paint dried I cut two pieces of fabric for the seats. On Centsational Girl's post, she added some padding, but I actually thought the seats were comfortable enough. I covered the seat as they were, old fabric and all. I folded the fabric around the seats tightly and used the staple gun to secure the fabric on the underside of the seat. All that's left is screwing the seats back on to the chair frames, and...

Done! Well, this was taken before they were actually done, because I had to go back and fix a few spots with the spray paint. After that I moved them to their rightful place in my house...

They are perfect for the space and it only cost me about $30 total. I call that a success! What do you think?

P.S. Linked up to The Idea Room's linky party. Check it out to see more fun projects!