High Chair Re-Do

I am always looking for a project to do or re-do.  ALWAYS.  Remember the pickle jar lamp?  Or the apron from a pair of blue jeans?  

Well, today it's a high chair.  

This high chair belonged to my youngest son.  Here he is in it at his first birthday sticking his finger in his Winnie The Pooh cake I made for him.  (Note: I was smart and took his shirt off.  Frosting, you know?)

I love that high chair.  It is sturdy and easy to operate.  One handed even!  I haven't found a single one today that compares to it.  Now, my little baby up there in that photo is now 11.  However, I frequently have visitors with little kids so I kept the chair and it does get used.  This is what the chair looked like originally. 

When it was newer I was able to buy replacement chair pads from Graco for $17.  Not so anymore.  Graco doesn't offer them for this model because they WANT YOU TO SPEND $100+ FOR THE LATEST MODEL.  Not gonna happen.  The last few years I've had to make my own chair pad.  I head to Hobby Lobby and purchase the black and white checker board vinyl fabric.  I love the design.  It costs about $5 a yard.  They do have other choices of vinyl fabric but we are partial to checkered flags.  The first year I made one I purchased foam for the cushion.  I reuse the same foam over and over.  

I made a pattern by tracing the old one onto brown kraft paper and every year or so, I'll make a new seat cover.

After tracing, and cutting, I sew.  

Then stuff with the foam and a little added polyfill.  Stitch it closed.  In the case of my chair, the seat flaps slip over tabs in the back and underside of the chair, so I cut slits into them to keep them in place.

Normally, this would be it.  I would call it complete.  A black and white checker board cover on the original white high chair.  

Not this time.

This time, I took it a step further and gave the entire chair a makeover by using Rust-Oleum's Paint Plus 2X Ultra Cover spray paint in black semi-gloss.  It bonds to plastic.  I love the stuff.  Before I began I called the company and not just one, but two employees assured me that once the chair cures for 7-10 days, it will be perfectly safe to serve food off of the tray.  If you do this to a high chair, call the company of whatever paint you choose to use.  It might vary depending on the paint brand/company.

Here's the tray before it was painted...

 

...and here is the complete chair all finished.

Isn't it cool?  It looks better than brand new.  I'm so glad I took the extra steps and went with the black spray paint.  I used just a little over two cans of paint on this.  

My kitchen cabinets I had painted black a few years ago so it really compliments the kitchen now.  This re-do makes me want to go house to house making over people's high chairs.  

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