Reupholstering a Chair and Ottoman

by Lynda @ Gates Of Crystal

If you love French Country, you probably also love Bergere chairs. I know I do! So when I found this chair at a used furniture store a couple of years ago I didn't pause. I paid for it, stuffed it in my van and off I went!
But it didn't look like this when I bought it.

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I wasn't blogging yet so unfortunately I did not take a before picture but I do have a picture of the ottoman.

I buy a lot of furniture at this particular store and I bet the guy that owns it think I have a really ugly house! lol Anyway, let me show you how I recovered this ottoman.

I pulled off the trim all around the ottoman. I wanted the over-stuffed look so I piled some polyfil on top.

Then I added a piece of foam that I cut to fit. I did the same thing on my seat cushion on the chair.

I had already made my cover (see "How to make a slipcover") so I fit it on to the ottoman.

I then stapled it right to the edge of the wood and trimmed off the excess fabric. I did the same thing when I recovered the chair.

I wanted a double piping trim to best cover the staples so I cut two pieces of piping long enough to circle the ottoman. I covered one using a piping foot, rolled the fabric over and covered the second one right next to the first. This leaves your unfinished seam out of sight.

Then I used fabric glue to glue it to the ottoman, using straight pins to hold it on until it dried.

I ordered this from Amazon.

Be sure you're not wearing nail polish when you do this step. The glue will cause your nail polish to come off onto your fabric.

Et voila! A brand new chair.

I added a toile pillow with beaded ball trim to finish off the look!

I've reupholstered a couple of chairs now. I've never completely taken off the old upholstery - just the trim.

Hope this helps you make an old chair look like new!

love and blessings~

Lynda @ Gates of Crystal

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1 question

Designermelinda on Oct 22, 2020

What kind of fabric did you use?
Did you paint or stain the wood?

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2 of 31 comments

Marion Nesbitt on Oct 17, 2016
Beautiful job. I love the colour, too.

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J Tilley on Jul 15, 2018

I have a chair very similar to yours, so want to recover it! Thanks for the tutorial!!

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