Upholstered Chair Makeover (twins)

4 Materials
I found these beautiful chairs for $5 each. Pretty fabric? [sarcasm]


I’ve REALLY wanted to do some upholstery lately and thought these would be a good project to get started with. I’ve never upholstered anything to this magnitude before (let alone 2 of them), more-so smaller chairs or slipcovers that I’ve sewn. Here we go…



I removed the top layer of fabric and found this delightful red underneath. At least the nice legs are still exposed.



I actually considered leaving them red, but the fabric is a little outdated and faded (and it wasn’t upholstery fabric). Plus, I knew it wasn’t the original fabric and my curiosity got the best of me…and I had to see what was underneath!



I used one of the layers I removed as my pattern for the new upholstery fabric.
Note: Keep what you removed as your pattern, and remember the order you removed it!



Rather than purchasing trim, I made my own (double-welting is what it’s called in upholstery terms). Here’s what it looks like.



And Ta-Da!!!!! I also made a nice little pillow to add a pop of color.



I love the way they turned out, so pretty, simple, clean and elegant!


If you'd like to see more pictures (BOTH THE CHAIRS SIDE BY SIDE), how I painted the chair frame, tips, more details, and steps from start to finish, please click the link below.
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  • JaBro JaBro on May 29, 2019

    Oh, my! Gorgeous! I have a theory similar chair that the cats have ripped apart. I’m going to tackle this project. Can you tell me how many yards of fabric you used?

  • Kristen Kristen on Jul 01, 2019

    Either this article is missing a section or I am supposed to know how to do the whole middle part which BTW is the redoing part on the chair itself. It says remove fabric, cut new fabric using it as a pattern, make cording.... then it skips to “ta da ... I made a pillow “ so can someone please explain how to sew the fabric on, how to attach the cord, etc.? It there a secret to getting it super tight like this one so it doesn’t look DYI. Thanks so much!

  • Lisa Fauerbach Lisa Fauerbach on Jul 13, 2019

    They’re gorgeous. I have chair envy😍😍😍

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