I’m so excited to share this how to reupholster guide with you guys!
This project started with a table and chairs set that I found at a local thrift shop, it was outdated but definitely had a lot of potential!
The seats on these chairs were just crying out to be updated!
So after I finished my farmhouse makeover on the chairs themselves, I decided to give the seats the same treatment by recovering them with this gorgeous fabric!
I’m going to be completely honest here, this project was actually my very first time reupholstering anything!
I think for some reason I had built it up in my head to be this really complex process, so up until this point I had never wanted to even attempt it.
But once I finally took the plunge and did it I couldn’t believe just how EASY it was!
Now I’m looking around my house wondering what to reupholster next, haha!
If you’re like me and have been afraid to actually try reupholstering, or even if you did and it just didn’t go well, keep reading for a detailed step by step tutorial with lots of photos to show exactly how I did it!
You’ll be a reupholster master in no time!
(And be sure to check out the full tutorial for the DIY table and chairs makeover here: Farmhouse Style Dining Table and Chairs Makeover)
Supplies Needed:
- Fabric (enough to recover however many chairs you are reupholstering)
- Heavy duty staple gun
- Staples
- Staple remover
- Scissors
- Screwdriver (to remove chair seats)
- Chalk
- Iron
- Ironing board
- Pencil or marker (optional)
If you aren’t sure how much fabric you will need for your chairs, I would say be on the safe side and get more than you think you’ll need.
Remember that each piece of fabric you cut will be larger than the chair seat itself since it has to stretch all the way to the bottom!
I bought 5 yards to do these chairs, and it ended up being way more than enough!
Better too much than too little though! And I will definitely use the leftover fabric for some other project!
Step 1 – Remove chair seats & old fabric
For the first step you will be taking the chair seats off of the chairs, and then removing the old fabric.
Now stop here if you are recovering more than one chair and before you go removing anything make sure to pay attention to this next step!
Take your pencil or marker, and write on the bottom of each chair.
You’ll want to write on both the bottom of the chair seat, as well as the inside of the chair itself.
This way once you have all the seats removed and reupholstered, you’ll know which seat goes to which chair!
This might not seem like a big deal but if the seats are different at all (or even just if the screw holes are in slightly different places) then it will be really important to put each one back on the chair it came from!
Someone had actually already done this before on these chairs so I didn’t have to worry about it this time.
Now that you’ve handled that…
Turn the chairs upside down (sitting the seat of the chair upside down on the edge of a table works well for this part) and then use the screwdriver to remove all the screws until the seat comes lose.
Now flip the seat over and use the staple remover to pry out the staples holding down the fabric.
This is what one of my chairs looked like underneath after removing the staples.
The fabric they used was a mess underneath! And they had even left strips of the fabric that was on it before they recovered it along the edges.
But funny enough you never would have known any of that just from looking at them normally!
I guess it just goes to show you how imperfect you can be and still get away with it, haha!
Now remove the fabric, but be sure to hold onto it for the next step!
Step 2 – Prep & cut new fabric
You’re going to want to iron your new fabric before hand just to make sure there are no major wrinkles.
Don’t worry if you can’t get out every single minor wrinkle, since you will be pulling the fabric tight when you attach it and any small ones will probably disappear when you do.
After you’ve ironed the fabric, lay it out on a flat surface,
Now is where you’ll be using the old fabric that you took off the chairs!
Just take the old fabric and lay it out on top of your new fabric.
Try to keep it close to the edges on two sides so that you don’t waste as much fabric!
Now take your chalk and trace all along the edge of the old fabric.
You may have to go over it a few times to get a clear line.
Make sure that your chalk line is visible all the way around, and then remove the old fabric.
Now you have a perfectly sized guide to follow, so start cutting along the line with your scissors!
You can use specialty fabric scissors, but you definitely don’t have to (I didn’t in fact!)
Don’t worry if your cut edges are messy, I’ll show you a trick later on that will help hide them!
After you’ve finished cutting out your fabric, repeat this step for each chair you are recovering!
Step 3 – Attaching new fabric
For this step you are going to want to make sure that you have a hard flat surface to place the chair seats on while you staple the new fabric, a tabletop or even the floor would work just fine!
I put a towel down to keep my fabric clean and then placed mine on the floor to make it easier to push down hard enough on the stapler.
Once you have a good surface to work on, place your new fabric down first (make sure the side you want to be visible is facing down), and then put the chair seat upside down on top of it.
You’ll want to make sure the fabric is pretty centered, and that it can stretch all the way to the bottom of the seat on all four sides.
Now pick a side to start on (it doesn’t matter which) and here we’ll be using that trick I mentioned before!
Before stapling the fabric, take it and fold the edge underneath itself so that the area you cut isn’t visible.
Voila! A nice clean edge to work with!
Now starting in the center, stretch the fabric towards the center of the seat, and place staples evenly along the edge of the fabric until you get near the corner on both sides (don’t staple the corners yet!)
If you get a bunch of fabric in one area you can always fold it over onto itself to hide it.
Just try to make sure that your fold won’t be visible from the top or sides of the seat!
Cutting off excess fabric is another option, but I personally used the folding method.
If you see a spot where the fabric seems lose along the edge, just go back and add another staple! Remember that you won’t be able to see this part once the seats are reattached to the chairs!
So don’t stress out if it doesn’t look perfect!
After you’ve finished stapling the first side, move on to the side exactly opposite! This way you are stretching the fabric evenly across the the seat!
Repeat this with the other two sides, and then it’s onto the corners!
They aren’t really as tricky as they seem, you just need to decide how you want them to look!
Try folding the fabric over onto itself and then down against the seat, you can use one fold or multiple folds, whatever you want!
Just play with it a bit and remember that this part will likely be visible from the front or sides of the seat so make sure you like how it looks!
Once you’ve decided on a certain technique for the corners, be sure to repeat it on all the other corners as well so that they match!
Just repeat the steps above for each chair you are reupholstering
Step 4 – Reattach seats
Now all you have to do is use the screwdriver to reattach the seats to your chairs!
Make sure to reference your numbers so that you are matching them correctly!
Aaaaand you’re done!
Now one more little reminder of the mess we were dealing with before…
And here it is now in all it’s reupholstered glory!
Can you believe it’s even the same chair?
And here’s the entire set afterwards!
They went from outdated to farmhouse chic for sure!
I hope this step by step guide on how to reupholster/recover chairs helps inspire you to try reupholstering a project of your own!
It really is a quick and easy way to dramatically change the entire look of a piece!
If I can do it then so can you!
Do you have any furniture around that would look great reupholstered?? Give it a try! I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below!
