DIY Diner

So basically, I'm a miser. I've been working full time for the last almost three years and I still have mostly hand-me-down and cheap furniture. This has nothing to do with lack of disposable income, and everything to do with trying to save up a substantial down payment to buy myself a place to live. I disagree with the concept of renting being the same thing as spending money for nothing, but in the very likely event that I continue living and working right where I am now, a property investment doesn't seem like a terrible idea.

Anyway, this is just preamble to why I have a "set" of five diner-style chairs from God knows when that my dad or grampa bought for something like $5 a piece. While attempting to "research" this post, I discovered that you can buy a similar style chair from Williams-Sonoma for hundreds of dollars. However, I'm just trying to figure out how to actually hang onto these chairs without having a formica table to go with them. I have a theory that I could pair them with a nice simple rectangular table and that would work ok.

But before I can do that, I have to re-upholster the chairs. Here is what they look like right now:

So I figure I have to go through the following steps with these chairs:

1. Determine how much upholstery is required. I feel like this would be a good time to use my optimization problem skills, but HAHAHA YEAH RIGHT LIKE I REMEMBER ANY OF THAT.
   
2. Buy materials and tools. I definitely need upholstery, plus the actual cushions in the chairs will need replacing as well. I think I also need to get a small stapler and maybe some other items.
   
3. Take the chairs apart and straighten/buff up the legs. I need help for this step, so I'm hoping to borrow my dad for one weekend.
   
4. Actually reupholster the chairs.

I've been telling my sister/roommate I'd have this done pretty much since we moved in together, but I've been feeling really motivated about it lately. I have a costume to make for the next con I'm going to, and a dress that I started in the summer and haven't finished yet, but I'm hoping to do all of it before April is over. Considering that I didn't get anything done in January, and that January is almost over, I'm not sure how successful I'll be. But wish me luck. I'm willing to post updates, if anyone's interested. (p.s. I wanted to write about something different for this topic, but ran out of time. Got the idea for this actual post from Dave and Jeff.)