Welcome back to Upholstery Basics, where we’ll be rolling up our sleeves and completing our first project together: a wrap-around seat. Of all seating, dining room chairs get the brunt of the abuse — a little vino here, red sauce there. If you’ve been glaring at those chairs and wondering how to give them that much-needed facelift, read on, and you’ll be transforming those eyesores into jaw-droppers in no time. Read the full post on reupholstering dining chairs after the jump! Don’t forget to check out Upholstery Basics: Tool Time to learn more about the tools we’re using today. 1. Remove the seat from your chair frame by unscrewing the screws on the underside. If your seat drops into the frame, like mine, you may be able to pop it out without unscrewing it. Make sure to mark the orientation of the seat before removing. It may seem obvious, but it is imperative that we know which side is the front when we attach the fabric later. 2. Strip all of the old fabric, padding, staples and tacks off of the seat using your pliers and staple remover.
Once you’re finished, you should be left with a wooden board. This is a good point to mark any screw holes, so you can avoid them as you attach new padding and fabric. 3. Flip the board upside down on top of the foam and trace the outside edge with a permanent marker. 4. Use the carving knife to cut out the shape. Don’t worry if the edges get a little ragged looking. Just do your best to keep the blade straight up and down and not angled to one side or the other. 5. To create a slight domed shape to the seat, place a layer of cotton batting about an inch inside the edges of the board. Add extra layers if you’d like the crown of the seat to be more exaggerated. Just remember to make each additional layer of cotton slightly smaller than the one that precedes it. 6. Attach the foam to the board by stapling through the side of the foam and down into the wood. It’s best to work in opposites as you staple, so start with the back side and then move to the front. Then staple from the right to left side.
Be careful not to push the foam back as you staple. We want the hard wooden edge to be padded, so it won’t show through the fabric. 7. Dacron will smooth out all of the imperfections and be the final layer of padding before the fabric. Once the foam is secured all the way around, tightly wrap Dacron around the edge and staple to the bottom of the board. 8. Trim off the excess Dacron gathered at the corners and around the bottom. 9. Now it’s time for the fabric! If you’re working with a pattern, decide where you’d like it placed on the seat. The rule of thumb is to place the top of the pattern at the back of the seat and the bottom of the pattern at the front of the seat. 10. To get started, staple the fabric at the back of the seat, but only put the staples in halfway by lifting one side of the staple gun up at an angle. These are called sub-staples and will allow you to pull them out very easily should you need to make adjustments. Once you’ve stapled the back, move on to the front.
Then sub-staple the right and left sides. 11. Make a pleat in every corner by pulling the fabric from the sides around to the front and back. Fold under enough of the excess fabric to make the edges of the folds flush with the corners. Feel free to cut out bulky excess if you’re having trouble getting it all folded under the pleats, and use your regulator to get the fabric neatly tucked in. 12. Once you’re happy with where your fabric is placed, take out your sub-staples a few inches at a time and replace them with permanent staples that go in all the way. These will need to be closer together to make sure all the fabric is held down tightly. Keep a close eye on the edge as you go. The more consistent you are with the tightness of your pull, the smoother the fabric will look. Another tip: Pull with your palm instead of your fingertips to avoid puckers and dimples. 13. It’s looking like a finished seat now! After you’ve cut off the excess fabric, permanently staple the dustcover to the front side of the seat.
14. Then add a strip of cardboard tack on top for reinforcement. 15. Fold the dustcover over the tack strip toward the back of the seat. This is called a blind tack. Fold under the raw edge and staple to the back of the seat. Once you have the back secured, fold under the sides and staple. 16. If you have a seat that screws onto your chair frame, clear any holes of padding, fabric or dustcover and attach it to the chair. Use your blower attachment to dust off your chair, and you’re finished! If you haven’t seen it already, check out Grace’s inspired wrap-around chair on the Design*Sponge Book Trailer. Even the smallest project can make the biggest difference. See you next month!Reupholster chairs in about an hour. Chair cushions consist of plywood inserts with foam and fabric that comes off easily. You can reupholster most dining room chairs in about an hour. If the fabric on the cushion is showing age, has become damaged or you're simply sick of looking at it, replace the foam and fabric like a professional using simple hand tools.
You can do a single chair, or spend the day doing them in a production mode by taking each one a step at a time. Turn the chair upside down. Look for screws that penetrate up through the frame into the plywood chair seat. Using a drill/driver, remove all the screws, and push the seat from the frame with your hand. There will typically be six or eight screws. Stand the chair upright. Insert a putty knife between the wooden chair frame and the back cushion. Pry gently on the knife to lift the cushion slightly. Pry it up until the glue begins to loosen. Grab the thin plywood cushion with your fingers, and pull up on it gently. As the glue loosens, pull the back cushion free of the chair frame. Place both cushions face down. Use a staple puller to remove the staples around the perimeter of the fabric. Pull the fabric off the foam. Slide a putty knife under the foam to cut loose the glue. Pull the foam off the plywood. If some if it sticks to the plywood, scrape it off with the putty knife.
Spray the cushions with aerosol contact adhesive. Place dense fabric foam on the cushions, and press it down to bond it to the plywood. The foam should be at least one inch bigger than the plywood on all four sides. Trim the edges of the foam off flush to the plywood using a jigsaw. Place the cushions foam side down on a piece of upholstery fabric that is at least four inches bigger than the foamed cushion on all four sides. Place a heavy object on the back of the plywood to compress the foam. Pull the fabric up tight on one corner. Fold it over, and use an upholstery staple gun to shoot a staple one inch from the edge of the plywood to secure it. Move to the opposite corner diagonally. Fold, staple and shoot another staple. Move to the other corners and repeat. Pull the fabric up on the sides. Fold, staple and shoot staples in this manner, moving from side to side, end to end until you have staples two inches apart around the perimeter of fabric. If you see any pleats, folds or wrinkles, pull them out with your fingers, and shoot staples to secure the fabric tight.