How To Reupholster A Chair Seat

September 14, 2021 by Denise - 48 Comments

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HERE’S AN EASY WAY TO GIVE YOUR CHAIRS A FRESH NEW LOOK ON A BUDGET | HOW TO REUPHOLSTER A CHAIR SEAT TUTORIAL + VIDEO

Hi, creative #sifamily! Here’s a simple and inexpensive way to freshen up your chairs by reupholstering the chair seat! I find fabric projects intimidating so believe me if I can do this YOU can do this!

It’s also Trash To Treasure Tuesday of my favorite days of the month! I’m joining my blogger besties and linking to their T2T makeovers below… so be sure to check them out as well.

Here are the two accent chairs I started with. They might have been waiting room chairs in their previous life. I found them at a Restore for $15 and loved the clean lines but hated the fabric.

Okay, get ready for this one – I went a little bold and out of my comfort zone with an animal print! I couldn’t help myself because it ties in with the wood and style of these chairs so perfectly.

I’ll share my inspo image down below and you won’t believe what these animal print side chairs are selling for. I’m sticker shocked and I’ll bet you will be too.

THIS POST IS SPONSORED/CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS TO PRODUCTS I USE. YOU CAN SEE MY FULL DISCLOSURE HERE.

SOURCE LIST

Occasional Chairs – SALVAGED
Shop Towel
White Lightning (Cleaner)
Scissors
Cotton Batting (Optional)
Pneumatic Staple Gun
Manual Upholstery Gun
Fabric

HOW TO REUPHOLSTER A CHAIR SEAT

I’m not sure why but anything to do with fabric intimidates me. I’m always so excited to go fabric shopping. And then with SO many choices, I inevitably get overwhelmed and have a hard time making a decision. It gets worse. When I get it home, I always second guess myself thinking I should have gotten the other one. For once, I’m happy with my choice, and here’s how it all came together…

REMOVING THE SEAT

Can you see what I see underneath this chair? Do kids still do that or is this piece from the ’80s…lol. Anyway, before I cleaned this chair I removed the seat. Most seats are simple and straightforward to remove. They are usually held in by four long screws – one in each corner as shown below. When the four screws are removed, the seat pops right out.

REMOVE OLD FABRIC

This is optional. I decided to remove the seat fabric and add additional batting but I reupholstered it right over the back fabric. To remove the fabric on the seat, I used a screwdriver to pry up the staples then I used pliers to pull them out.

ADD COTTON BATTING

These chairs aren’t meant to have a lot of padding but to create a layer between the old foam and the new fabric, I used batting.

I laid the batting over the seat top and cut an additional 4 ” all around. (4″ is generous!)
Then I flipped it over and pulled each side around the back and stapled it into place.
Then removed the excess with a pair of scissors.

CUT CHAIR SEAT FABRIC TO SIZE

For this velvet chair fabric, I took the same steps as above. The only difference is I paid attention to centering the pattern on the chair seat and back. I laid the fabric flat on the table, put the chair seat on top, and cut around leaving a four-inch (4″) allowance.

I used a pneumatic staple gun and adhered the fabric all around making sure it was taut all the way around. If you don’t own a compressor to hook up to a pneumatic staple gun, you can get a heavy-duty manual staple gun for under $15 that works just as well.

STAPLING THE CORNERS

I don’t know if this is how professional upholster’s do it, but I treat corners like wrapping a present. I first pull up the middle and use one staple to hold the fabric in place.

Then I fold over one side of the fabric.

And then I fold the other side over the first fold. Once this double fold is made, I use two staples to hold it in place. This makes for a clean unbulky corner.

BONUS: CHAIRBACK

For the chair back I totally winged it. I didn’t want to remove the entire back so I reupholstered over the existing fabric.

I centered the fabric to match the upholstered seat
I cut the fabric leaving a good few inches of overhang on the front and back
I adhered the fabric underneath (this is how the original was also upholstered)
For the edges, I folded the fabric over
Pulled taut and stapled underneath
For a cleaner look under the back, I folded the fabric over before stapling

YOUTUBE TUTORIAL

Here’s a step-by-step in action on Youtube. If you have any problems viewing below, feel free to watch it on my Youtube Channel here… and don’t forget to subscribe! I can’t believe I hit 10K Subs! Woot woot, thank YOU! 🙂

THE FINISHED LOOK

I can’t wait to hear what you think about these chairs.

I like them so much I might use them in my bedroom on either side of my dresser.

And after doing a little “Googling”, I think I’m going to attach the folded sides down with a few stitches. I read if you use a matching thread or an invisible thread, it will hold it in place beautifully.

INSPO CHAIRS

Below are the inspo chairs that gave me the animal print idea. I really like the top two! The bottom set are selling for over $4k!

AND NOW FOR SOME TRASH TO TREASURE FUN!

You’re going to LOVE what my creative team of ladies do! Below are their BEFORE photos. Visit the links underneath to see the amazing AFTERS and learn how they did it! I’m heading over to take a peek as well! x

1. ARTSY CHICKS RULE

2. GIRL IN THE GARAGE

3. PRODIGAL PIECES

4. CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL DIYER

5. SALVAGED INSPIRATIONS (HAPPY YOU’RE HERE!)

Here’s one last look at this before and after. I hope it’s inspired you and given you some new ideas for your chair projects.

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THESE CHAIRS OR IF ANIMAL PRINT IS A YAY OR NAY FOR YOU. FEEL FREE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE… I ALWAYS LOVE HEARING FROM YOU. IT MAKES MY DAY! 🙂

Happy furniture restyling friends!

Denise x

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