How to Reupholster a Chair and Replace the Memory

How to Reupholster a Chair and Replace the Memory

How to Reupholster a Chair and Replace the Memory

A re-do for the foam-cushioned dining room chairs is a somewhat simple cut-and-staple job that may revitalize a tired, ketchup-stained, cat-scratched set of chairs. Begin at the finish by imagining your post-renovated dining room and then play with various options for chair seat fabric. You might want to whitewash the Queen Anne chairs and upgrade the striped brocade pillows using graffiti-printed canvas. Or replace the worn tobacco ultra-suede with chartreuse velvet. Whatever you choose, get the fabric treated with stain repellent before you make the initial cut. And always use high-density foam for optimum gnoshing comfort.

Spread a dropcloth in your work space, upend the chair, and remove the screws that hold the seat to the frame. Set the screws aside. Utilize a flat-head pliers or screwdriver to remove the staples holding the dust cap and upholstery fabric to the bench. Eliminate the fundamentals.

Mark the bench bottom in chalk to demonstrate the place of the screw holes — it is possible to pull an arrow pointing to each hole. You want to know where to reinsert the screws after the seat is reupholstered. Also mark “front” and “back” on the bench, for benefit from aligning the fabric pattern.

Peel off the fabric, old foam and prayer. Foam compresses and degrades over time, so don’t try to save the polyurethane unless the chairs are almost new. Lay the seat upside-down on a brand new block of foam and then trace around the seat with a marker. Add an additional inch all the way around for a seat that sits at the top of this chair frame, rather than fits inside it. The additional foam will wrap pad and around the borders of the wood seat, once you secure the foam with the batting.

Spray adhesive on the bench top and set the foam onto it — make it straight the first time because you might not be able to move the foam to adjust it once it touches the adhesive. Allow the adhesive dry; this usually doesn’t take a lot of time.

Flip the bench foam-down onto a length of dacron polyester batting and cut around the seat, leaving an excess margin to pull the batting over the foam and wood and staple it underneath the chair. Staple the batting to the chair bottom, starting at the front part of the seat and smoothing and pulling the batting taut over the foam before tacking it down over the back. Repeat the process for the sides. Trim the excess batting near the fundamentals.

Put the upholstery fabric right-side down and lay the padded side of this seat onto it, centering any pattern or aligning any stripes with the form of the seat. Cut around the form of the chair seat, leaving a broad margin to wrap the fabric over the polyurethane and staple it under the chair.

Staple the fabric to the chair, front-to-back, side-to-side, as you secured the batting. Smooth the fabric with your palm or the side of the hand to receive any wrinkles out and prevent the very small pull marks that can happen when you pull the fabric smooth with your fingers. Save the corners for last, creating neat folds or pack corners to fit the fabric around the curve or the corner of the chair seat. Mark the spots to get the screw holes.

Trim the upholstery fabric around a 1/2 inch in the fundamentals. Lay a length of cambric fabric over the back side of the seat and cut a piece 1/2 inch larger than the bench. Fold or press the edges under and staple the cambric fabric to the chair bottom, covering the fundamentals and fabric borders. Mark the screw holes on the cambric fabric as you move.

Poke a small hole for each one of these screws, through any backing, fabric or padding layers, and then screw the newly cushioned and upholstered bench back in the chair frame.

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