Updated Chair

This chair belonged to my Uncle's mother. After she passed away, they offered it to me. The seat was vinyl and a corner was torn exposing the wood seat, the cushion was flat, it was outdated and it really needed some TLC.



So I decided to give it that TLC and then give it a new home.

If you decide to do this, you will need...
spray primer
spray paint
flat-head screwdriver
possibly phillips-head screw driver
new fabric
maybe new foam cushion (if the foam on the chair you are re-doing needs replacing)
staple gun
staples to fit your staple gun

First look the chair over and remove the screws using a flat-head or phillips-head screwdriver (depending on the type of screws in your chair) that are holding the seat on. (Mine had four screws under the seat.) Do NOT lose these screws, you will need them again later to reassemble your chair.

Next remove all the staples holding the vinyl covering on. This can be done with a flat head screwdriver. After removing the damaged or outdated seat cover and the foam cushion you can disposed of them if you are not able to reuse them for another project.



Lightly sand the chair and prime it (I used a black spray primer because I was using a black paint, if you will be using a lighter colored paint, use a white primer). Then completely cover the chair with several light coats of spray paint, allowing it to dry between coats.

While the coats are drying take a piece of fabric that will coordinate with the color that you are painting the chair. (In my case I found the fabric first and then purchased paint to go with the fabric. Either way you do it is fine.) When you are recovering a chair seat, measure the wooden seat part and add about 6 inches to the width and another 6 inches to the height. (This should be sufficient unless you have a super thick piece of foam - more than 1/2 inch thick, if so, add more fabric.)

Lay the fabric right side down, center the new piece of foam on the wrong side of the fabric. Now place your wooden seat over the foam. Take the top piece of fabric and wrap it up over the side of the foam to the bottom side of the wooden seat (which will be facing up at this point). You should have about 2 or 3 inches of fabric to staple down. To make it easier, put pressure with one hand mashing the foam while pulling the fabric to the bottom of the chair seat with the other hand.

Using a staple gun, staple in the center of the fabric. Do this to the bottom, then the left and right sides. Now you can continue to pull the fabric taught and staple around the top, bottom and sides, carefully folding at the corners.

Once the fabric is completely secured with staples, screw the seat back on to the chair frame.



Here is my finished chair. I love it!

Before


After


Note: I used the same fabric for the chair seat that I used for the place mats and table runner here.

In the background is the old wardrobe that I remade over (check it out here) and since it has chalk board paint on the doors, my boys can't resist becoming artists - you can see some of their artwork next to the chair.