Painting and Reupholstering a Chair

Jamie Ueda
by Jamie Ueda
I had chairs that were in great condition but outdated. I wanted to give them a fresh look for spring so I decided to paint and reupholster them.
A great update on an outdated chair for spring!
I started with this chair, the wood frame is in fairly good condition.
Flip the chair over to see where the screws are located and remove the padded seat by unscrewing it from the frame.
Once the seat is removed, take out the staples holding the fabric to the seat pad. I like to use a flat-head screwdriver to loosen the staples and then pull them out with needle nose pliers.
Use the old fabric as a pattern guide to cut your new fabric. Cut your new fabric being careful to leave enough around the perimeter so you have something to pull taut. When choosing a fabric keep in mind the scale of your fabric to the size of the chair, if you have a print with huge flowers and a small chair you may end up with only a portion of the flower showing.
Using a staple gun, fold the edge of the fabric over and staple. It's easiest to start with the straight edges first and then do the round edges.
Cut away excess fabric from the corners and round edges.
Create multiple folds along the round edge of the seat, you may want to do this a few times before stapling to check and make sure the fabric is smooth on top. Once your folds are smooth, staple them down.
For the wood frame of the chair, gently sand out any knicks or blemishes. This also helps the paint stick to the chair. I chose a spray paint with a built in primer, spray multiple light coats instead of one thick coat to help prevent the paint from running.
Once the paint on the chair is dry, reattach the seat!
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