Find yourself a chair with potential! I found this unique chair at a thrift store for $4.99. Remove the seat and the old upholstery fabric. Pull out any old staples with pliers and a flat head screwdriver.
Re-Cover a Chair With a Woven Rug
Why limit yourself to upholstery fabric, when you can reupholster your chair with an inexpensive woven rug. Rugs are durable and add texture and style that is difficult to find in fabric. Grab a 2'x3' woven cotton rug for an average sized chair seat and follow this easy tutorial for a quick but dramatic chair makeover.
I picked this woven cotton rug up for $16.00. Place your seat, the chair seat that is , over your rug and decide what part of the pattern you want to cut out. leave several inches of allowance on all sides.
Use a heavy duty stapler to attach the rug to the seat. Start by stapling the four center points of all sides, and then work outward. Be sure to check your pattern several times to make sure you're not pulling your pattern wonky. I used 1/2 inch staples on my project.
Re-attach your seat to the chair frame. I had to use slightly longer screws to accommodate for the thicker cushion material. Also, do any re-finishing to the chair frame before you re-attach the seat.
I sanded my frame for a more natural wood tone, and sealed it with a satin water based sealer.
And that's it! Now you can enjoy your cozy new chair.
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Join the conversation
- Divinity Buggs4 days ago
Wow, I would have never thought about doing this! I will think twice about passing up the next rug I see at a 2nd hand shop! Great idea and thank you for sharing!
- Kara Wurtzel25 minutes ago
Love this, what a great idea!
Have a question about this project?
I found these rugs at Five Below!
Good deal!
Didn't you have to put some type of cushion on the chair?
I used the existing cushion.
So it has to be a thin rug just asking cuz u used a staple gun
It's a typical thickness for an inexpensive woven rug. About 1/4 inch thick.