I’m slowly working through some of the projects that have been lingering around Cottage & Vine. One project was to find a chair for our son’s new (to him) secretary desk in his room. I happened to find a great little chair for only $5 at a local thrift store.
The chair was small in scale and with a fresh coat of paint and a fun fabric, I knew it would be perfect! Recovering dining chairs is easy enough, but I’m always surprised to find that people are afraid to try it. I thought I would share the steps I go through – and really start to finish, it only takes five minutes or less.
Most seat cushions are secured with screws so I remove those first. You may or may not want to remove the old fabric – it is usually a good idea. As a side note, I lightly sanded, primed, and painted my chair first. I normally cut my fabric so that 2-3″ will wrap the back of the seat. I lay the fabric face down with the seat cushion top down and centered on the fabric. This project is much easier if you work on a table so that you can stand while working. Next, the fabric gets secured with staples every 2″ or so inches. I usually begin in the center of one side and work my way to the end, then the other end. Then I start on the opposite side, pulling the fabric tight as I staple.
I continue stapling each side all the way to the corner.
The finally step is to staple the corners down and trim the excess fabric.
Once the fabric is on, I reattach the chair pad to the chair.
I’m a big fan of chair pads and those are a must for painted wood floors.
P.S. Are you on instagram? You can find me at cottageandvine.
They look amazing…love the fabric!! Thanks for the tutorial – I seem to always do well until I hit the corners…
Such cute fabric! A coat of paint and the new seat totally gave this chair new life.
Love the fun punchy fabric you chose, what a great mix with the traditional secretary!
Cute chair Rene…love that stripe!
Nice! It doesn't even look like the same chair.
I recover my dining room chairs ALL the time because I have little children who like to decorate them with their food. Plus I just love fabric shopping and changing out a cover gives me an excuse to buy new fabric 😉
One thing I find very helpful when I get to the step when you remove the old fabric is to use the piece I removed as a pattern for the new piece!
Lovely project!
windowsbymelissa.blogspot.com
It's terrific, Rene! LOVE that fabric. I just recovered my eight kitchen chairs, and I love the way they came out. I will say that I've never taken the old fabric off before, so now these chairs have three layers. 😉 HA!
What the hell is easier than that. I mean you just can't beat a simple makeover that uses a $5 chair and about a stamp sized piece of fabric!
It looks amazing! Great fabric choice.
I love the fabric! Could you tell me where you found it?
Thanks,
Emelie