J. Mack Johnson's Blog

So you’ve got that old, worn out, ripped up recliner and your girlfriend or wife is pushing you to throw it out but it is hard because you have so much history with it plus it’s still really comfortable, what do you do? You could bow down like a little girly man and toss out the one true friend youever had they never judged you, was always there to support you during those tough times, and who always knew the right things to say…or you could give your old buddy a facelift and convince your significant other that rejuvenating the life of your chair is good for the environment and good for your soul and if she doesn’t let you keep it than she is no better than an Iraqi murdering, environment hating George W. Bush. Here’s a few tips to and tricks to turning your old chair into a newly improved pimp chair.

Fixing tears or holes in the chair upholstery is easy. All you need to do is go to your local shop and find the same fabric that will match the original color, or if you want to go really wild pick a different color that will also go with it, and then fix the patch or material with the proper adhesive or glue to fit. The fun of this is that you can be as creative as you want to be with the colors and styles, completely redoing the look of your chair to fit your proper pimp look and style.

The next trick to pimping out your chair is lighting—yes, that’s right, I said lighting. Pick out a set of fluorescent colored flashing hid lights or led rope lights or just find some old Christmas lights to wrap around your chair and bam, you done. You can even take it to the next level and add a modulator so that the lights flash really fast, really slow, or even fade in and out to really give it some effect. Your chair will be the centerpiece of the room, less of a chair and more of a flashing work of art.

Last but not least you need some storage. If you’ve got the space and the know-how, you can build your own little storage or even freezer compartment in the bottom of your chair that you could store drinks and food and keep cold with some ice. Besides that, you could just build a simple but effective cup holder into the arm rest, preferably one wide enough to fit a beer in a koozie. And with that you are set with your new pimp chair for laying around getting fat on a Sunday, or any day for that matter.

Related articles by J. Mack

• Riding a Surfboard Made By An Old Apple Designer [Summermodo] (gizmodo.com)
• Herman Miller’s Setu Chair review (core77.com)
• Week 17 – Our Lights (scottpaterson.org)