Making This Mid Century Modern Beauty Beautiful Again

Originally published in 2017 • Updated 2026

This one goes WAY back. Almost ten years back, actually—to the early days of Junk Is My Life, when I was teaching myself to reupholster furniture and apparently thought a $30 vintage beauty shop chair covered in dirty metallic vinyl and bright green spray paint looked like an excellent opportunity.

In fairness: I WAS RIGHT.

I found this Mid Century Modern swivel chair on a local Facebook Buy, Sell & Trade page for $30. Thirty dollars. It was an old beauty shop chair, it weighed approximately nine thousand pounds—or at least that’s how I remember it—and it was solid as a rock. The original vinyl was actually pretty fabulous. It had metallic flecks running through it and all the Mid Century goodness you could ask for. There was just one small problem. It was filthy.

Oh, and someone had spray-painted the back BRIGHT GREEN. As one does.

Surely I Can Reupholster That Mid Century Modern Beauty

At this point, I had been teaching myself how to reupholster furniture. And by “teaching myself,” I mean watching YouTube videos and then attacking unsuspecting pieces of vintage furniture with tools.

This chair was easily the most difficult upholstery project I had attempted up to that point.

Naturally, I immediately went fabric shopping.

I already had a stash of fabric at home—because some things apparently haven't changed in ten years—but then I found this black-and-white swirled fabric. That was it. I knew immediately. THAT WAS THE FABRIC. The graphic pattern felt right with the chair's Mid Century lines without trying to make the chair something it wasn't. Now I just had to figure out how to get it on there.

Things Came Apart

I removed the arms, leaving the backrest as a separate piece, and took the seat off the base to make everything easier to upholster. Or at least easier in the relative sense. Remember: I was still learning.

Fortunately, the chrome was in remarkably good condition. There was very little pitting, and once I cleaned it up, it shined beautifully. That gorgeous old chrome base was one of the reasons I bought the chair in the first place. Underneath the dirt, questionable paint choices and tired upholstery was a really good piece of vintage furniture.

Sometimes you just have to squint a little. And possibly bring it home before you've completely thought things through.

The Beauty Shop Beauty Returns

Eventually, everything went back together. Fresh padding. New upholstery. Clean chrome. And I added a tufted button to the seat back as a finishing touch.

For one of my earliest upholstery projects, I was ridiculously happy with how it turned out. The chair still had everything that made me drag it home in the first place—the chrome, the swivel base and those wonderful Mid Century lines—but it felt fresh again. Then I put it in the shop. And less than two weeks later...SOLD.

Nearly Ten Years Later...

Looking back at this project now is a little surreal. I've hauled home a LOT of furniture since this chair. I've learned considerably more about upholstery, refinishing, repair and what I'm getting myself into when I stand in somebody's garage thinking: I can fix that.

But this chair reminds me of something that really hasn't changed. I saw something good underneath everything that was wrong with it. Someone else saw a dirty old beauty shop chair with a spray-painted green back. I saw the chrome. I saw the lines. I saw what it could be.

Nearly ten years later, I guess that's still what Junk Is My Life is all about.

See what is there. Look a little closer.

Take the back road.

Find the good junk.

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