Nipped and tucked: Chair re-upholstery

When we moved into our house last year we ‘inherited’ a lot of furniture which was a godsend as we would still be sitting on cardboard boxes, drinking tea from old plant pots if we had needed to buy everything new! My mum recently downsized so we inherited her great big pine table and chairs. I grew up eating family meals and doing homework at this table so it means something special to me, and it was important for me to make it ‘fit’ into my home.

The chairs were originally covered in forest green gingham which matched a green Aga which we had in a previous life. The theme in my new dining room is slightly nautical, so I have been looking for a deckchair type material to cover the seat cushions with for a few months.

 

As I was aimlessly wandering through TK Maxx recently I spotted some beautiful tea towels by SOHO Living. As soon as I saw them my mind went into overdrive and I grabbed all six which they had in stock. I rushed home and set to work removing the gingham fabric and hundreds of tacks which were holding it in place...

Firstly I removed the base from the chair and placed it on a flat surface. I began to remove the tacks / upholstery nails / staples which were holding the fabric to the base. I used a flat head screwdriver because my other half isn’t known for his DIY abilities so we are a little lacking in the tool department! I tried with the back of a hammer but the nails were so deeply embedded that there was nothing to grip onto. There were 150 tacks and staples in each chair and 6 chairs...at this point I had lost all of the feeling in my fingers – and no doubt my fingerprints too!

The staples had gone quite rusty, and some broke as I was removing them – so this was a time-consuming, fiddly task.

I placed the fabric pattern side down and used the material which I have removed from the chair as a template to cut the new fabric. Unless the foam in your chair is really awful you shouldn’t need to replace it, just reuse and recycle it!

Making sure that I was stretching the material nice and tight, I began to replace the tacks. I tackled one side, then the opposite side next, so that I could stretch the material taut. My chair base had a white piece of material to cover the uneven edges, so if yours has one too then you will need to reattach this last.

Lastly, I fit the chair base back to the frame and voila...! Beautifully recovered chairs for a smidge of the price of a new set – the tea towels were only £1.50 each!

I’m so pleased with the result! I think the material should be fairly hard wearing and washable since it was destined to be a tea towel, so it should be practical as well as pretty!

Let me know what you think of my first re-upholstery project, I’d love to hear your comments!

Until next time,

K x