How to reupholster a chair

Note: This post is sponsored by Minted.com. As always, all opinions are 100% my own!

My parents bought us our kitchen table as a gift when I bought my first house back in 2008. And my mom and I quickly reupholstered the existing brown chair covers with some fun green and white fabric. Fast forward 6 years, and these chairs are begging for a little update.

We considered buying a whole new table since the glass table top is impossible to keep clean with a Max baby running around, and we still might do that. But until we find the perfect table, at least the chairs are clean and fresh! And notice I went with a black background versus a white one? We can thank Maxwell for that one too! Oh and if you chairs have springs, check out this chair reupholstering tutorial. These kitchen chairs are super simple to recover. After you pick out your fabric and gather your materials, you’ll need just a couple of hours!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 yards of fabric (This depends on the size of your seat tops.)
• Fabric scissors
• Stapler
• Staples (Make sure you have the correct staples for your staple gun.)
• Screwdriver

As for fabric, I bought mine from Minted.com. After much debate, I decided on Brushed Spots. Choosing fabric is always the hardest part of the upholster project for me since there are some many fun fabric options. I also love this one and this one and about a bazillion more.  Also, for reupholstering projects, spend the $2 extra dollars a yard and upgrade to the cotton/ linen blend. It is nice and thick and perfect for upholstery!

A few things to consider:

1) Old fabric: I did not remove the old fabric from my cushions. I actually spent the time and removed all of the staples and fabric from one cushion to realize that it did not make any difference. You can not tell the difference between the one chair that has the fabric removed and the 3 chairs where I did not remove the fabric. Morale of the story: Don’t waste your time.

2) Pattern of new fabric: Be aware of the pattern of the fabric when laying out your cushion. Even though the fabric I chose does not have a bold pattern or stripe, it does need to be oriented the same way. The brished spots could either go vertical or horizontal. I ended up making them all go vertical.

3) Getting staples out: If you do mess up and need to remove a staple, it’s not that hard! I had to do this on multiple occasions. For the most part a flat head screw driver was enough to lift the staple out. On occasion, I used a pair of pliers to pull the staple out one side at a time! Hopefully you won’t need that tip.

First: Un screw your chair cushion from the chair. My chairs had 4 little screws, one on each side that attach the cushion to the chair frame.

Next: Cut your fabric. I don’t measure, I just lay my cushion in the middle of the fabric and eye ball about 2.5 inches around the entire cushion. Use fabric scissors to cut out a square peice of fabric.

Then: I like to start with the side of the cushion that is farthest away from me. Staple one in the middle of the far side, and then evenly space 2 more staples, one on either side of the first staple. Next to the same thing to the opposite side making sure the fabric is tight. You can always flip the cushion over and check out the finished side as you go along.  Then give the other 2 sides 3 staples each making sure the fabric is tight.

Fourth: Now it is time to secure the corners. It’s kind of like wrapping a present. For the corners, I usually secure one staple on either side of the corner, giving me about a 2 inch corner span to work. I fold in both side of the fabric so that is lies flat and secure the corner with 4-6 staples. On occasion, I cut out a triangluar shaped piece of fabric so that it would not be so bulky.

Finally: Do the steps above with each chair that needs recovering! And when they are all done just screw the cushion back into the chair frame and admire! Just for fun, here’s a before:

And here is another after! Oh and just in case you need some organization in your life, here’s the tutorial for the giant chalkboard wall calendar.
So have you ever reupholstered chairs? I’d love to hear…