Over the weekend, I began my chair project. I blogged about redoing the cushion in my old, ergonomic everything deck chair back in June, but didn't have time to do anything about it until now.
I searched online to find out how to cut foam and discovered I could use a bread knife. I ordered a cheap, $5 model from Amazon. I was a little skeptical, but it actually went through the foam easily. Not neatly, but easily.
I removed the cover from the old cushion. This ended up being super easy because my desk chair didn't have the cover stapled on. Instead, there were little tabs that the fabric hooked onto and some string that tied it into place at the back. That was a definite win since I didn't want to pry staples out with a screwdriver.
Once I had the old cushion out, I put it on top of the new foam, traced around it (leaving enough room for a lip), and then got out my cheap serrated knife.
Up to this point, everything was going easier than expected. You know what happened next, right?
I put the new foam down on the chair, sat on it to test it out, and discovered the foam I'd ordered was too low in density. I might as well be sitting on the old foam because it was going to be uncomfortable in a short amount of time. My first thought was to cut out a second piece of foam and stack them, but immediately I said no, why don't I put the new foam on top of the old foam. Then I'll have two layers.
I tested this idea out and it was perfect! Then I tried to pull the old seat cover on over the two layers of foam.
It didn't fit.
So I started looking online for a new cover. I didn't find anything that inspired confidence that it would be large enough to cover two layers of foam.
After I finish this post, I'm going to try to compress the foam as much as possible and force the old cover to fit around it. If that doesn't work, well, I can make a new one, right? I have a sewing machine and I have fabric and elastic. It doesn't seem as if it would be a difficult sewing project.
