From Foothills to Fog: Reupholstered Dining Room Chairs

When I first moved to the city, neither myself or my roommate had a dining room table. I started scouring Craigslist and came across the deal of the century. A solid wood table and four chairs for $50. The seller warned my they had a cat, and that there was some wear on the cushions and table, but I wasn't worried. If the construction was solid, I had big DIY plans for this table.

Fast forward one year, and the table and chairs look exactly the same. I guess I hadn't made it a priority to give my little Craigslist bargain a much needed face lift.

Now that Andrew has moved in, we are the proud owners of not one, but two dining room tables. Our dining room is a bit crowded these days. Lucky for us, Andrew had a beautiful Pottery Barn hand-me-down table from his parents. So there was no question which table we would be saying goodbye too. I mean, look how awful these chairs looked!

Since I had already purchased the fabric to reupholster my old dining room chairs, I figured I would still do that project in hopes of earning a little extra cash for the decorating fund when I sold it. So I finally tackled that project, and it was surprisingly simple. I am so pleased with the results, I am tempted to keep two of the chairs so we can seat 6 at our table. But I'm not sure a table and two chairs is a hot commodity on Craigslist.

The project is pretty easy. Lucky for me, I have a seamstress mother, who sent me the fabric cut to size as well as some batting. I wasn't planning on removing the original seat upholstery, which was a dark tan, so we used batting as an extra layer for cushion as well as to insure the old upholstery didn't show through the new, white fabric.

Overall, the process is pretty simple. You'll need a stable gun, staples, screw driver, Allen wrench, fabric, batting, and of course chairs.

The first step is removing the seat cushion from the body of the chair. This will depend on your chairs, but ours popped right out after removing 4 screws.

Before getting started, I ironed my fabric to insure wrinkle free seat cover once I was finished. I laid it face down, then placed the cushion on top of it in the center. Since the fabric I chose had writing, I needed to be careful that I faced it in the right direction. Before I stapled it into place, I flipped it over to make sure the writing was placed the way I wanted, and relatively straight. Once the fabric placement was right, I was ready to get started.

First I put one staple on each side of the cushion, fairly close to the edge. Then I pulled the fabric tightly and worked my way around each side.

Tip: Remember where the screw holes are as you staple the fabric to the cushion, you'll want to leave those uncovered to make reassembly easier.

The two front corners were the trickiest part, I found that trimming away the extra batting and fabric helped. Then I stapled the batting down first, right at the edge. I then created a fold, kind of like an arrowhead, with the fabric, and stapled on each edge so it was secure. I found that this method created the cleanest looking corners once the chair was reassembled. Once you've securely stapled the fabric around the entire cushion, all that is left to do is trim the excess fabric. (note to self: buy fabric scissors before my next project).

Finally, reassemble the chair. Ours had a wood frame underneath the cushion, so we had to align the screws in the frame, with the existing holes in the cushion, then tighten to secure into place. This was a bit tricky, and took an extra set of hands.

Now, step back and admire your handiwork!

I'd say the before and after is impressive! Quite a difference a few hours of work and $20 of fabric makes! I'm kind of kicking myself for not doing this sooner!