I found this great Mission style rocker on Craigslist this week and wanted to use it to break up my matchy-matchy living room couch, loveseat and club chair set. So I did an ol’ fashioned make over on it this morning. Lightly sanding it and adding a new stain made a huge difference. Afterwards, I added a new pad (I can not believe how expensive foam is) and recovered the pad with a Dwell Studio upholstery fabric in cream with a slight pattern to it. I really liked the juxtaposition of the old style of the chair and the modern material. A few hours worth of work and this is what I wound up with:
I am pretty happy with how it turned out but, I had a hard time with the upholstery tacks. I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to how to get them to go in straight. They were all lined up but when I would go to pound them into the chair they would bend and then the head would land cockeyed on the material causing them not to line up well. You can really see that here:
As soon as the Christmas Tree comes down I think this chair will look right at home.
Ittybittybungalow 
It looks great! I like the fabric choice 🙂
Hmmm… as for the tacks, perhaps hold the poke-y part with a needle nose pliers while hammering them in? It looks like Sherry@YHL would just remove any that ended up bending: http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/08/the-dastardly-rocking-chair-part-two/
Or maybe see if you could find some that are stiffer and less likely to bend?
Oh wow! Thanks for sharing that post. Sherry is a true DIY Champion and it makes me feel like I am in good company with the tack situation! I think I might try to predrill the holes with a tiney drill bit and then place my tack. I’ll have to make sure to update with the success or failure of this new idea.
Predrill the holes with the tiniest drill bit you have. You don’t have to go deep, just enough to get the set of the tack right.
By the way, the chair looks great!