How to Reupholster a Chair Seat

How to Reupholster a Chair Seat

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decor, decorating, DIY, fabric, refinish, reupholster

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About 6 years ago I reupholstered a chair from a matching pair I received free from a colleague. It was a simple paint/apply seat fabric job using white paint and black and white graphic fabric. I loved how it turned out. I blogged about it here.   If you don't want to go back and read here is a synopsis:

What I started with:

And what I had after:

The fabric was getting tired and faded so I reupholstered the seat again this weekend. It is so easy and there are a million tutorials out there so I'll just go through mine quickly.

I had purchased two yards of this fabric at Christmas time.  It's by Waverly I think. I saw it in the store and had no idea what I would do with it but knew I loved it.  So this is what I used.

And now my chair looks like this:

Here's the story.

Flip the cushion and take off the old fabric.

I pretty much took every tool out of Jim's toolbox to accomplish this. Let's just say
 I did a very thorough stapling job when I put this fabric on.

Replace batting and foam if needed. I did not need to do this.

Use the fabric you took off as  your pattern for your new fabric.

As I was doing this Ellie snuck up and put this here. It was cute.
She has to be involved in everything.

Years ago Jim bought a staple gun that is used with a compressor.
It makes things SO easy!  Of course, a compressor doesn't have
to be this big. We do enjoy overkill over here.

Pull fabric taut and staple, staple, staple. Pretend you don't
care how many you'll have to pull out the next time you do this. Just staple and pull
your heart out!

I like to do 2 sides first before doing the corners.

I know some people say to wrap the corners like a package but I have never been able
to do that. I just pull and staple as neatly as possible. These are not my
best corners. But I kinda don't care because you won't see them
when the seat is back on the chair.

Dizzy yet?  Yeah, I get that the cane back and the fabric
make for a woozy feeling. I am going to sew up a simple gray pillow to put on the back.

The other thing we did yesterday was to pound down every popped nail on our deck. I'm planning on staining it soon to freshen it up too. Here's my man wielding his hammer.

Watcha up to this weekend?  Anything good to report?

Cheers!
Jenny