It's a good time to reupholster a chair seat if you answer yes to either of these questions:
Do you have a chair that needs sprucing up?
Is the seat showing signs of wear and tear?
Even if the fabric hasn’t deteriorated, you just might want to update the look of an older chair. The good news is that it's not that difficult to reupholster a chair seat and give it a totally different look.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: Two hours
Here's How:
- Unscrew a seat.
- If you are planning to take the old fabric off, detach it from the seat and use as a template. Otherwise, measure the seat’s length, width and depth to find out how much fabric you'll need. Make sure to add an extra 2 inches all around to attach the fabric to the seat. Multiply by the number of seats you will be re-covering to know how much fabric you'll need.
- Cut the fabric to size. If you're not using the old cover as a template, do not forget to add the depth and the extra fabric required to attach it to the seat.
- Place the fabric wrong-side up. Center the seat on it upside down. Fold the fabric over on the side with the straightest edge. You can tape the fabric firmly down with masking tape so that it doesn’t move when you’re stapling it.
- Starting at the center of one side, fold the fabric over and attach it to the seat with a staple gun, putting staples 1 inch apart.
- After attaching one side completely, stretch the fabric tightly against the seat using masking tape to attach the other side to it. Staple as before. Turn the seat over and smooth the padding. Make sure there are no wrinkles. Turning the seat over again, fasten the other two sides the same way.
- Fold the fabric in at the corners to miter it neatly and staple it in place
- Return seat to the chair and replace all the screws making sure to tighten them. You don’t want a wobbly seat after all the hard work you’ve put into it!
Tips:
- If the finish on your chair is showing signs of wear as well, fix it before you re-attach the seats.
- Attach screws to the bottom of each seat with masking tape while you work so that you don't misplace them.
- It’s a good idea to get some extra fabric in case you run into a problem, or need to position a pattern just right. You might also want to staple on a square of fabric to the bottom of each seat for repairs in case of accidents.
What You Need:
- Screw driver
- Masking tape
- Staple gun
- Upholstery Fabric
- Scissors
- Measuring tape
