Today, I am sharing an easy chair makeover I recently completed. As part of our kitchen renovation, we had a custom built-in bench made for the bay window in the dining nook. That bench put in motion my plans for a redesign of the nook (when you give a mouse a cookie…). I will share my thinking and a mood board for that space soon, but I knew I wanted to start with new chairs. The existing black bentwood chairs were in good condition, but felt too farmhouse for the room. I didn’t want to wait forever for new chairs and the budget is tight after spending all our money in the kitchen, so I started casually visiting some local estate and consignment sales online. Soon, I found these:
I really loved the shape and the woven backs and arms, but wow were they ugly! The wood color was all wrong and the cushions were a faded green chenille that was even worse in person than the photos suggest. The chairs had good bones, so I knew I could make them over.
chair makeover process
First, I removed the seats by flipping the chairs over and unscrewing them. Next, I wiped the chairs down to remove any dust and grime (they were actually pretty clean). Next up, two coats of spray paint. I would have much preferred to use a “nicer” paint like mineral paint, but I did not trust my ability to paint the woven areas with a brush. And I don’t have a sprayer. And I was impatient. To complete the makeover, with my mom’s help I re-covered the seat cushions in Crypton Home fabric in Nomad Snow.
the after
how to re-cover chair cushions
Supplies needed: fabric (I needed 1 yard for two chair seats); staple gun with lots of staples; scissors. Optional: pencil; ruler; extra set of hands. Most people will not need an extra set of hands, but I have a weak grip, so my mom did most of the stapling.
- Lay out your fabric, place seats face down on top, and cut fabric into pieces large enough to cover the cushions and reach the wooden seat frame inside the bottom of the seat. If your fabric has an “outside” and an “inside,” make sure the correct side is facing out.
- Starting with the front or the back, begin stapling the fabric to the wooden frame on the underside of the seat, pulling the fabric taut as you go. This is where I ran into problems. I couldn’t pull the fabric with one hand and staple with the other; hence, the second set of hands.
- Continue stapling the fabric to the frame around the chair, always pulling the fabric taut. Stop about two inches away from the corners. You’ll handle the corners last once all sides are complete and you are satisfied with the tightness of the fabric on the cushion and the placement of the fabric pattern, if any. If you mess up, no worries. Use a small flat head screwdriver to remove the staples in the problem area, fix it, and re-staple. You should staple more than you think you need to – it will keep the fabric in place. Cut away any excess fabric.
- Take a minute to figure out how to do the corners. There are a number of ways: hospital corners, gift-wrap-style, etc., so you will want to play around with what works best for the shape of your cushion. You may have to cut away excess fabric at this stage as well. Once you have it, pull it tight, and staple, staple, staple! Repeat the same method for the other corners.
- Replace the seat on the frame and screw it back in. If you mistakenly covered some of the screw holes with your fabric (as I did), you should be able to just screw through it.
And there you have it! A quick and easy estate sale chair makeover. Stay tuned for dining nook plans!