Recovering Dining Room Chairs-A new look and its so easy!

I really wanted to change the look of my dining room but didn't really have a good idea of where to start. I have my grandmother's antique dining room set from about 1910....beautiful!.....but it is showing its' age a bit. The fabric over the cushions doesn't really go with the rug or the paint color but it was OK enough. Recently our local fabric supply store was going out of business. They were selling everything, even the fixtures. I went in and saw yards and yards of fabrics. I tried going to the remnant table and I saw a small bolt of fabric that would go well with my room. The sign said $3 to $4/yd. This was upholstery grade (I asked) and I also asked how much I would need. You need 2 yards for 4 chairs with an average seat cushion. This was 12 yards and I only needed 5-6 (I was doing six chairs. But knowing I might make a mistake, I asked how much it would be if I take the whole 12 yards...and the clerk said-1/2 price of that! So I got the whole 12 yards of of fabric for 21$ (1.75/yd)!! it never hurts to ask. Key points to remember if you have never done this before: PICK A PATTERN THAT IS SIMPLE AND CONSISTENT. Try to avoid picking one with a pattern that you'll have to center. It makes it more complicated. Pick a fabric that is upholstery grade and get the right yardage...2 yards will do 4 chairs. Allow a little more if you have big over sized chairs. Be safe and just ask the clerks. The fabric store clerks know everything!

You'll need a screw diver, a staple gun and 3/8 inch staples, and a scissor to do this job.

To begin to recover the chairs, just unscrew the cushion from the bottom-usually 4 screws. Carefully flip the cushion over and you'll need to take out all of the staples that are holding the current fabric in place. You can use a flat screwdriver for this. Do one chair at a time so you don't mix up the bottoms with the chairs. If you need to replace the foam fill the fabric store sells that too. Make sure that the foam overhangs the wood a little so that the fabric over it will create a nice smooth look when pulled taught. You don't want to see any hard wood edges. Lay the cushion over the fabric and cut out around the cushion leaving at least enough fabric to have 2 inches hanging over the wood backing on all four sides. Make sure it is straight and taught and then you can begin to staple the fabric in the following way. ALWAYS start in the center of the top or bottom side and go around and do all four centers first. Then you gradually work your way out to the corners in the same way..rotating sides...putting a staple about every inch to inch and a half while pulling the fabric taught. Not too tight you don't want to make uneven pull marks. Do the corners last. Rotating this way and starting in the center and working out will minimize any uneven pulling or gaps. For the corners pull the center of the corner over the edge, staple it and the do the edge to the right and to the left of it and staple each of them. This will give you a nice finished look. when you are done stapling make sure you are happy with the finished look. If you have an uneven area just pull out those staples and re-do it. Once you are happy with the look of your cushion you can then trim off any excess fabric along the staple line and then screw the finished cushion back on to the chair. Voila!! You won't believe the change it brings. I promise you it really isn't hard, especially with a simple fabric pattern. If your nervous about doing it there are so many people that do this that can help you and lets face it, if you get the fabric at a price like the one I paid, you can allow for a learning curve. I actually didn't make any mistakes and I used the extra fabric I had to recover my hope chest cushion in my bedroom, and to make throw pillows for the living room which coordinate with the dining room. I may even try to do a cornice board for the window! If I do that and it works I'll write about that one too! Don't be afraid to try it and GOOD LUCK!
cilck on HOME below to view enitire site