Lunch with Peter Rabbit

It's been almost a year since we found a tiny folding table and one folding chair by the side of the road. The seat and table top were covered in blue vinyl that had definitely seen better days, but a little scrubbing took off the dirt (if not the stains). My plan was to replace the blue vinyl at some point.

Then, a few months ago, a neighbor threw out another folding chair, identical to the first. This one had a tear in the vinyl but was otherwise sound, so my re-cover project went into effect. I searched and searched for the right fabric, but was plagued with indecisiveness. It had to match the blue seat frame, it couldn't be too "kidsy" (because it spends a lot of time in our living area), and I didn't want something that would look dated too easily. I even bought some fabric at JoAnn's, only to discover that it was the wrong blue when I brought it home.

And then it hit me. Why not Beatrix Potter? It's classic, and it generally involves the color blue. A brief search later, and I'd found the perfect fabric.

A scattered print of Peter Rabbit and family, on a greyish background -- and it wasn't even a one-way design! I topped it with a layer of clear vinyl, because spills were inevitable.

It's a good thing I decided to re-do the chairs, because when I pulled the vinyl backing off of one of the seats, I discovered thick green mold. And that chair had been sitting in our house for a while... *shiver* Fortunately, we had a thin plywood-ish board in the garage that was the perfect thickness when doubled. I cut out two seat shapes on the bandsaw, glued and clamped the pieces together, and voila!

And since I took these pictures, our neighbors ditched another chair with a scarred seat. I had plenty of leftover fabric and vinyl, so we now have a set of three chairs -- and I'm feeling pretty confident we'll one day end up with a fourth! I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open...