The Fast Way to Replace a Dining Chair Cushion

Lindsay Fay
by Lindsay Fay
6 Materials
$6
30 Minutes
Easy

The dining chairs in my living room were a cute mid-century style, but at some point in the last seventy years the original seats were replaced with plywood. As you might imagine, this was super uncomfortable to sit on. So I went on a mission to find a cheap and easy way to replace the cushions. This was the result!

I picked up four used hotel-style chairs for $1.50 each at my local Habitat Restore with the intention to remove the seat cushions, and transfer them to my chairs. Upholstery foam is expensive, and I'll do whatever I can to avoid buying it new - I even have an entire post dedicated to where to find it cheap!

My chairs started like this. The wooden chair on the left is the one I intended to sit in my dining room, while the metal chair on the right is the one I was pulling the cushion from.

I started by removing the seats from the chairs. Both seats were simply attached with screws on the bottom of the chairs.

Then I glued the cushioned seat to the plywood seat using spray adhesive.

For extra security, I connected the two seats together with the four screws I took off the metal chairs.

Then I recovered the seat. Since the two seats weren't exactly the same size, I used batting (and a little poly-fil) to smooth out the gaps.

Both the batting and the fabric were secured with upholstery staples.

Since the chair seats were so small, I was able to use drop cloth scraps from other projects to cover them. Once the cushion was covered, I attached my new seat to the chair.

Then my chair was done. This was 100% a cheater method for replacing the seats, but it got the task done quickly, and my new chairs are cute and comfy, which is everything I wanted.


If you think you might do a similar project, be sure to check out the full blog post for more details on the process!

Suggested materials:
  • Dining Chairs   (Already Had)
  • Used Hotel Chair Cushions   (Habitat Restore)
  • Spray Adhesive   (Amazon)
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Lindsay Fay
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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