Are you tired of seeing your chairs always the same? Do you want to give your dining room a change but with little money? Do you want to take advantage of some old chairs and don’t know how to do it?
Do not hesitate, the simplest and most economical solution is to upholster your chairs. For little money you can take advantage of the chairs you already have without having to spend a fortune buying new ones. In addition, for lovers of vintage and old, it is a great option to give a new and different touch to such valuable pieces.
You can upholster your chairs yourself, which will save you money while taking advantage of those furniture that might have ended up in the trash.
If you want to learn how to upholster a chair and recover or put to your liking some chairs that you have at home or instead you want to give it a more modern touch because you are already tired of them, then continue reading this article
Materials
- The first thing you should do of course is get the materials. Not only are you going to need to go buy the fabric that you like the most for your chairs, which should always be a little less than double the surface area covered by the seat. In this way we will never lack fabric. If you have bought a good scrap of fabric to upholster several identical chairs, then cut the fabric to the size of each chair and leave it ready.
- If your chair has a very flat bottom and it hurts to sit down, or it has broken springs, it is better that we remove and fix them. However, this is always a recommended option even if the fund “can still hold out a little longer”. To fix the bottom we will use nylon and foam rubber straps.
- You will also need some tools and utensils, such as an electric or battery stapler, staples, scissors, a box cutter or something to cut the foam, and sandpaper.
Remove the old
- We are going to start by removing the upholstery and the old background. To do this, we are going to turn our chair around and remove the staples, the stitching or the sticking of the seat fabric. We will remove the fabric and the old foam rubber.
- Next we will have to remove the old springs or straps. You can cut them and remove any type of fastening that may have been used on them. Be careful not to leave any leftovers or hurt yourself when removing them.
- Once we have the structure of the chair completely empty, it is time to clean it well and sand the part below where we removed the small or the staples. Sand it by hand and be careful not to mark the edges or the exterior of the chairs too much, otherwise some part that is visible could be ugly.
To paint or not to paint
- The upholstery will be to your liking, but this step will also be your decision. You may also want to change the color of the chair frame or refinish it to protect the wood or make it look neat and newer.
- In this case, the first thing we have to do is sand the entire chair, through all the holes to remove the old paint, be patient and make sure that the finish is smooth and uniform.
- Then you must wipe it with a damp cloth to remove all the dust and the rest of the dirt from sanding. Then let it dry well.
- Before applying the paint you can apply any type of treatment for the wood that you consider appropriate, such as anti-woodworm. This option is highly recommended when you want to restore chairs that are over 50 years old or that may have been in a house with woodworm. Let it dry for the time indicated by the producer of the treatment, it is usually indicated on the packaging. Although it may be advisable to wait a day before using the paint.
- Choose the paint you want to put on the chair, from scandalous colors to pastel tones such as different colors of varnish. You can also choose to apply the paint with brushes, small rollers, or brushes, or choose to spray paint. Whatever the paint, remember that you must choose it specifically for wood, that it be durable and always paint two layers of paint.
Repair background
- To repair the bottom we are going to cut as many strips of crossed straps as possible. (The more the better, because it will be more resistant). The important thing is to place the straps crossing over and under as much as possible so that it is well reinforced. The strips should be about 4 cm longer than the actual distance of the chair. We are going to double the webbing one centimeter and staple it to one of the edges of the wood. Then fold another inch and staple again. Stretch the webbing as far as you can and staple it to the opposite edge of the wood. Fold one inch and staple, then fold the rest and staple again. Go repeating this process with all the straps passing them above and below the others.
- Now we can take the measurements of the chair with a meter and then draw the lines on the foam rubber or take a piece of paper, from newspaper itself to copy the shape, put it on the foam rubber and cut following the shape. A box cutter or foam saw will make this task easier.
- If you put a single layer of foam rubber the seat will be straight, on the other hand if you want it to look a little round as with a “tummy” then it is better that you put two layers of foam rubber. One thin below and one thicker above. If you want to be more secure, you can always put a bit of glue or silicone to stick the foam to the chair, but it’s not really necessary.
Upholster the chair
- Now we are going to start with the upholstery itself. We will place our piece of fabric so that on all sides there is more or less the same amount. We will carefully turn the chair over, leaving the seat on a hard surface. Staple one edge (leaving excess fabric) to the frame. Three staples will suffice for now. Then we are going to stretch the fabric in the opposite direction and staple it to the wood. We will repeat the process with the other ends.
- Next we will focus on the front edges, for this we will fold the fabric carefully so that it is a clean and neat result. If you see that it is too much fabric, cut the excess. Once you have the fold well done, stretch the fabric towards the bottom of the chair and staple it. We will repeat this process with all the edges that the chair has.
- If there is too much fabric underneath so that it hangs and can be seen, cut it, but first add as many staples as you consider appropriate. You can also put cloth or a potato sack so that it covers the straps and does not show under the saddle, but this is up to you.
- You see that upholstering a chair is much easier than it seems, and with a little care and time you will have a fully restored chair ready to enjoy.
What do you need to upholster a chair?
- Electric stapler
- cutter
- Scissors
- Foam
- staples
- Fabric (choose a fabric you like)
- sandpaper
- nylon webbing