I love taking something old and ugly and giving it a new life! (Of course if you follow my blog much you already know that!) Upholstering chairs sounds pretty scary and intimidating, but really, it's easy-peasy and so much fun! Really a simple way to make something uniquely yours!
When we got married we bought a round kitchen table with four chairs that I loved!
The chairs are black with a brown suede-like seat, they were perfect!
Then we had kids...
Now they look like this...
Yuck! The suede stuff just doesn't come clean real easy, and kids just need everything to be wash-n-go! So, lets re-do them!!!
First, flip the chair over and unscrew the seat. My chairs had four screws, in the corners, holding them on. (this picture turned out kind of odd, but it is the seat on the floor after taking the screws out)
Tabs where the screws were.
Then start to remove the old fabric. I chose to be gentle on the black stuff so I could use it later. Brown stuff, not so much! Mine was stapled down. If you can get the staples out that would be ideal, mine were REALLY tight, so I just made sure they were flat and called it good!
Next, I got some very-wipeable fabric, the name of which I don't remember and can't find, but the back is very much a normal weave cotton/poly fabric, but the front is very vinyl like. Wipes clean super easily!
Cut out your fabric so you have 3 or more inches extra all the way around.
I used the old foam from the chairs, so either reuse the old or cut the foam to fit your seat. Our foam was yellowed so I also put some plain-white fabric between the foam and 'nice' fabric.
Layer as follows:
Main fabric (face down on the floor/table)
Foam
Wood (or otherwise) seat piece
Then pull up one side and staple from corner to corner every 2 inches or so (as needed to secure fabric)
Next, do the same on the opposite side, pulling the fabric so it is somewhat tight and you don't get wrinkles. This also helps the seat have a nice smooth appearance.
Repeat on the other two sides likewise.
Now the corners... These get tricky sometimes. Starting with the corner of the fabric pull it in on the diagonal and attach. Then, fold the remaining fabric so it lays as flat and non-bunchy as possible. Also pay attention at this point to where your screws will go in later! The first one I did I didn't do this and we had troubles keeping the screws in and the seat attached!
Repeat to all four corners
Finally, reattach the bottom fabric, or cut a new square to cover the mechanics of things. Finally screw the seat back on!
Sadly I don't have a picture of the finished chair...
You see, I did two chairs nearly two years ago and just finished the last two. But I finished the last two so we could give the set to my Husband's brother and new wife... We just don't fit it anymore (which is why we refinished this table recently!) Thereby, as I write this post, the chairs are not just a couple steps away, but across town... oh well.)
Give it a try and let me know how things go! The concept applies to most chairs!
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