Reupholster Project

Hey everyone! I have been slacking a bit on blogging but I finally had a moment to share my latest DIY project with you! Lately I have been consumed with preparing for our first ever, full-blown, trade show exhibit at The Dayton Women's Fair. As part of the planning process I have been scouring garage sales and Craigslist for gently used items that I can up-cycle for our booth. For this specific project I was looking for some vintage style dining chairs that I could bring back to life. I found these beauties on Craigslist and met the lovely owner in Cincinnati on one of my trips down south for equestrian related events. It was quite convenient if I do say so myself. These "Mad Men" styled chairs had good bones to them. No missing parts or uneven legs. They were just what I was looking for. With a little sprucing up they would be a perfect accent to our booth!

In keeping with our branding, the color palette for our booth is none other than black and gold mixed with neutral hues and of course just a touch of rustic, vintage flare. With that in mind I set out on a journey to find a great piece of fabric. Thankfully, Hobby Lobby had just what I needed.

I also purchased a few cans of black primer, black satin paint, clear polyurethane and some new foam inserts. The chairs were just a bit on the hard side, so I thought while I had them apart I would fluff them up a bit. 

Step one of the entire process was to disassemble the chair. It was super simple and only required removing the screws from the bottom of the seat with a screwdriver. Then I simply took the body portion of the chairs outside, primed, painted and polyurethaned them. I used a couple coats of each, while rotating the chairs around to be sure I got all of the cracks and crevasses. 

The next step was to re-cushion the seats. This part was a little more time consuming but still rather simple. I used a flat head screwdriver to remove the staples from the current upholstery. Once the fabric and old cushion were removed I fitted my new foam pieces to the wood and trimmed the edges. Finally, I measured my fabric by placing it over the cushion and then trimmed it to the appropriate amount. All in all, I used about 1.5 yards of fabric for two chairs. Once the fabric was trimmed I simply attached the fabric using a staple gun. The most tedious part was making sure the corners of the seat were flush and that the front two corners mimicked each other in their fold pattern. 

Once the chairs were dry and the cushions were put back together it was time to reassemble the chairs. I just screwed them back together the same way I took them apart. I did have to replace a couple of screws due to age and corrosion. But, nothing that you can't handle.

And there you have the final product! I was super happy with the results and I can't wait to see the rest of the booth come together.

Have you ever reupholstered anything? If so do you have any tips or tricks?