How to Reupholster a Chair

Do you have a couple of tacky dining room chairs that look like they came from the 70's?  Or are you a college kid who gets all the hand-me-downs and you just want something cute for your dorm?  Or maybe you just want to redecorate and that chair in the corner doesn't match?  Well why not reupholster it!!  It's actually REALLY easy and doesn't take long at all.  You just need to make sure you have all the right tools!


What you need:
1.  A chair
2.  Choice of fabric (about a yard or so)
3.  Staple gun and staples
4.  Screw driver (either flat or 4 pronged depending on which type of nails are in your chair)
5.  Scissors
6.  Toothpicks (if needed)*

Here's how you do it:
1.  Unscrew the piece to be upholstered from the chair frame and lay it on your fabric with the fabric facing the way you want it on the chair.
2.  Cut the fabric so that about 4 inches stick out from the sides around the chair bottom like this:

3.  Fold the top edge over and staple to the chair bottom.  Pull the opposite side over, pull tight and staple. I like to staple about 3 staples on each side.  Keep doing this until the sides are stapled tight.

4.  Now leaves the corners: pull the fabric back, tuck the sides in and fold over and place a staple on each side of the fold.  If this is too complicated or hard to follow, just try and fold the corners over in any way you can, secure them with staples and make sure no fabric sticks out!

5.  Now that your seat is all covered, let's reattach it!  You'll just need to hold it back on where you found it and twist the screws back in.  

*6.  If your holes are stripped like mine were because my chair had been reupholstered 4 times, then you'll have to use my toothpick trick.  Break a toothpick into 3 parts (1 toothpick per hole) and stick the 3 parts down into the screw hole.  This should give enough wood for your screw to hold on to!

You're done!! How easy was that.  Now time for a before and after photo:

BEFORE

AFTER