Goodbye Wicker!

Ever since Emily, Jackie and I got our table/chair set from a nice Korean lady (Craigslist find!) I've been wanting to replace the seats. Not only were our cats using the wicker as their personal scratching posts, but our chairs would sink down further and shed wicker bits over the years. No bueno.

I had something like this in mind:

[design sponge]

...and was a little discouraged when I couldn't find the right "ikat" (learned this weekend that it's pronounced "eee-kat". Who knew?) Needless to say, my eyes lit up when I stumbled upon this fleur-de-lys-esque pattern in the Joanne's clearance pile. $6 for the fabric, that never happens! I picked up 1"thick upholstery foam from Lincoln Fabrics and had a friend help me cut out wooden seats. Half hour with the staple gun and voila!

*pardon the dark iPhone picture....doing my best with what I have!*

We were so eager to get rid of the wicker seats on these chairs that we didn't even take a "before" picture...I'm sure I can dig one up for the dramatic "before and after" effect.

Now, what to do with the wicker seats? We're considering turning them into a mini cat-scratch tent or box. Anyone else have any other ideas? (I think I become more of a cat lady with each post...)