I got my hands on these beautiful, carved oak chairs for free! Now, not knowing their full history, I wanted to reupholster the seats before bringing them home. (Which is just a good practice on any used furniture with fabric. There could be allergens or other nasty things you can’t see with the naked eye.) Here are my tips and tricks on how to reupholster a dining chair.
How to Upholster Dining Room Chairs
Upholstering dining room chairs is an easy home dec project that can change the entire look of your room!
Materials
- 3/4 yard of fabric to upholster one chair. This is a general amount needed - it's best to measure your chair for the exact amount (see note below)
- 5/8 yard of batting
- 5/8 yard upholstery foam (optional)
Tools
- Staple gun and staples; if you have access to a pneumatic upholstery stapler, it makes it much easier
- Screwdriver
- Needle-nose pliers
- Hammer
- Pinking shears
- Scissors
Instructions
- First, take apart your chair. Here is the chair "before" and the fabric I'll be using to recover it.
If your chair needs to be repaired or refinished, now is the time to do it before you add the new seat.
- The first thing is to remove the seat from the chair, which is easy. Turn the chair over and use the appropriate screw driver to remove the seat.
- Lay the batting and fabric on the seat. Carefully, flip them over so you can staple the fabric to the seat.
Start in the center of the front and back of the seat. Push down in the center of the seat while pulling slightly outward on the fabric. Not too much -- you don't want the fabric too tight. If it is too tight, you end up with divots along the edges of the seat where each staple is instead of a nice, smooth, and gentle line.
Staple the front and back centers. Once your centers are secure, I work alternating from the front and back so I am always pulling against a staple. The sides must be handled gently. With the trapezoid shape of this seat, this can get out of alignment easily. Just hold down and staple as you go.
Staple to about 2" from each of the corners. This leaves room to dress the corner. It also gives the sides some play to stretch or not as you staple down those lines.
- Once all sides are secure, I break out my pinking shears and trim the excess fabric, leaving about 1" past the staples. (if you don't have pinking shears, you can use your fabric scissors).
Then, use fabric scissors to cut perpendicular to the fabric edge at the corners to create a little flap.
Pull the flap towards the center of the seat and staple down. This method helps keep the underside of the seat flat and allows for easier folding of the corners.
- Next dress the corners in, folding the cut edge in slightly and stapling down. At this point, you shouldn't be doing much pulling, just fold and staple.
If any of the staples aren't laying flat, use your hammer to make them secure.
Last step, now put the seat back on the chair frame. - Here is the finished upholstered dining room chair!
Notes
NOTE: To determine the exact amount of fabric needed to recover your chair, measure the widest point of the seat INCLUDING the depth of the padding. Measure front to back of the chair PLUS depth. Then add about 4" to those measurement.
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You might not be as lucky as me to find these gorgeous chairs just ready for me to update. Explore estate sales for some really great finds on furniture, including some awesome dining room chairs that might be begging to be reupholstered and brought home with you! Other great places are thrift shops, resale shops and consignment stores. I’ve found great furniture ready to be refinished for my home and style at Habitat for Humanity shops.
Learn these tips on how to reupholster a dining room chair and apply these techniques for a variety of furniture upcycles. Similar techniques are used for stools and ottomans. You can use upholstery fabric, or if you are quilter or surface design artist, use some of your own fabrics or designs to truly make it yours!
Browse through more home dec ideas and projects to make your house your home.
