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I’ve always considered myself to be a do it yourself-er. I find little to be more gratifying than being able to say, “Yep. I did that myself.” I was super eager when Amanda asked me to be the proverbial guinea pig and test out the new DVD. I was perfectly qualified for this task in the sense that I have zero experience in upholstery, besides stripping furniture. The rules were simple; upholster a wrap around chair without asking Amanda, Clar, or Frank for any help. I had to pretend that I didn’t have expert upholsterers within arm’s reach of me and rely solely on the DVD. Simple enough, right?
I brought an old run down desk chair from home (Louisiana) that my sister acquired for free when purchasing an antique desk. The chair was in rough shape. White paint splattered on the wood, ripped upholstery, and just overall a little run down. Despite its flaws, I’ve always thought it had such potential. I love the dark stain, the beautiful grain of the wood, the unique curved back, and its charming brass tips.
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Some of you may think that my critique of this DVD might be a little biased, seeing as I work for the person who created the video. Rest assured that the DVD is so incredibly good, I don’t even have to lie about it. Really, it’s true!
Let’s Begin.
The DVD begins, and I am instantly inspired and enthused from the montage of Amanda reupholstering various pieces. One of my favorite aspects about this DVD is the “Getting Started” option on the title menu. I love how clear it is about what tools you need and the little definitions it gives you. Seriously, it’s such a simple concept, but I feel like it is so useful to people who have never seen most of these tools before. So far, this DVD is a HUGE upgrade to the other outdated and dull options out there.
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My chair didn’t fit entirely into one category of “wrap around and picture back” or “tight seat and tight back”. The seat of my chair was a wrap around seat and the back was more of a tight back. I was happy that my chair wasn’t exactly like either of the examples because it forced me to really apply what I learned. To make this experiment more authentic, I brought all the tools home to my little apartment. I watched the “Redesign 1” section once all the way through and then began on my seat. I’ll admit that I was a little cocky and thought to myself, “Do I really need a DVD to tell me how to do a simple seat?” Well, I did. Even though the difficulty level was low for this wrap around seat, I was quite impressed with how many really clever tips I learned that I never knew about before, such as sub stapling, pleating corners and curves, and sewing welt cord.
The back of my chair was a little tricky because only the inside back needed to be upholstered. I used some of the information from the “Redesign 2” section to help me tackle the inside back. This DVD is so efficient with very clearly explaining and demonstrating how to correctly perform each instruction that I dare to find someone who couldn’t complete one of these chairs. The journal that comes with the DVD has a section devoted to showing the other types of furniture that one should be able to complete applying the skills that they learned from this specific DVD…brilliant.
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So, I say to you, if you have ever had the desire to reupholster something but feared that you would not be able to execute it properly….well, fear no more. Get this DVD and let your inner Sprucette (or Sprucer) shine!