How to reupholster an old dining chair
Full-disclosure: I’m a city girl with very little handyman experience (handyperson? handyvidual?). However, I was really sick of my dining chairs from Crapfair (name changed to protect the identity of the cheap furniture store who sold me dismal chairs). So I bought a couple of vintage, solid, legit chairs second-hand for $100 and gave them a makeover. It was easier than I expected!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Fabric
- High-density foam (I used 3-inch but 2-inch would probably be comfy too)
- Dacron (bonded upholstery batting)
- Dust-cover material
- Marker
- Electric knife
- Needle-nose pliers
- Staple gun
- Corkscrew (or a real staple remover)
Step 1:
Get your hands on some good quality frames.
The seat was broken on one of these so I went to the lumber shop and cut out some new ones. However, if yours seat is still in good shape, you can re-use it too!
Step 2:
Remove the seats by flipping the chair over and unscrewing the large nails. Keep the nails so you can buy new ones of the same size if needed.
Step 3:
Remove all the staples by loosening them with the corkscrew and then pulling them out with the needle nose pliers.
Step 4:
Cut your materials. You can cut the fabric by just placing the old fabric on top of the new for size, and cutting around it.
For the foam, place the seat on the foam, trace with a marker, and then cut with the electric knife.
Step 5:
Re-assemble. Lie down the new fabric, a sheet of Dacron, the cut-out foam. Fold and staple. Make 2-part folds around the corners.
Step 6:
Almost there. Cut out a new dust-cover a bit smaller than the surface. Staple.
Step 7:
Ultimate move. Apply any treatment desired to the wood frame. Flip the chairs back over and nail the seats back to the frame.
Enjoy!
