8/03: So the chairs are looking bad.  But I don't want to get a new set -- I love what I have.  And then I find this fabric remnant of outrageous beauty.  It's a sign -- it's time to give this a try.  The worst thing that can happen is, I can't do it, right?

8/05: Thank goodness for good ole Visio and its scale features.  Turns out, if I cut just right, I can get all the needed pieces out of the remnant.  Green light.

8/06: Now -- can I actually take a chair apart?  I set to work on the back of the chair, find that I need two different screwdrivers, but miraculously have them.  Voila.

After cutting, pinning, stretching and squishing, and buying upholstery thread and a mega needle, the back is covered. Heroic. That's enough work. There's more?

8/06: Yup. Now it's got to go back on the chair. Somehow.

I win!

8/08: Gee, now it looks even worse -- guess I'd better replace the seat, too. Now I find that, in addition to the two screwdrivers needed for the back, I need three more screwdrivers. Two I have, and one I don't. The problem tool is the wigglewaggle with the faintly octagonal poke-er. It had worked on all the octagon screws so far, but now I have a couple so deep that the wigglewaggle prevents the snout from reaching the hole. This almost finishes the project, since the wigglewaggle was a left over from a self-assembly bookcase, and I'm sure you couldn't just go out and buy such a thing. And anyway, how would you ask for it? [I'm thoroughly sick of being laughed at by hardware clerks.]

8/09: But after percolating for a few days my stubbornness revives, and off I go to the store. I explain that I need an octagon-snout with a longer wigglewaggle. The clerk turns away for several seconds. He then -- do you believe this? -- goes straight to a packet with 6 different wigglewaggles, all with long wiggles. I'm back in the game. The seat comes off.