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recovering dining room chairs is easier than you might think!

How to Recover Dining Room Chair Seats

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How to Recover Dining Room Chair Seats

Sometimes a great set of dining room chairs get seats that are a little worn, a bit stained and just needs a fresh update. If the chair frames are in good condition, I’d encourage you to give this project a go. Simply recover the seats with fresh new fabric…let me show you how.

A short while ago, a sweet friend of mine asked me to help her recover the old seats of her dining room chairs. Here is a “Before”…

Old dining room chairs can be easily recovered!

It had been years since I had recovered chairs, but was happy to take on the challenge. I’m almost always up for a challenge! 🙂

Supplies for Dining Room Chair Recover

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  • Oilcloth in pattern/color of choice (or you can use regular fabric, too-*see note below if you have children*)
  • Sharp scissors
  • Measuring tape
  • Flathead Screwdriver (for removing old staples)
  • Manual staple gun
  • staples that fit your staple gun
  • Plenty of coffee. <<—-This is my favorite brand (because every project is better with coffee. 🙂

Fabric for Dining Room Chair Recover

My friend had purchased some great oilcloth fabric –

Oilcloth fabric is perfect for dining room chairs - it wipes up easily and makes clean up a breeze.

 

(highly recommended when you have kids) – because she knew it would be easy to maintain and she wouldn’t have to worry about spills or messes. Oilcloth is amazing stuff and there are so many great pattern/color options available now – check these out!

Dismantling Dining Room Chairs

We started out by dismantling the chair seats – which was surprisingly easy –

Simple tools are all you need to recover dining room chairs

 

and removing the old fabric. We used a flathead screwdriver for the staple removal.

It's a simple process to recover dining room chair seats!

We didn’t bother to replace the inside cushions. They were still in good shape so we just went right over the top with the oilcloth. No need to buy new foam for seats unnecessarily.

How to Recover Dining Room Chair Seats

Once we had our fabric measured and cut,

 

Recovering dining room chairs is quick and easy using this method.

 

we jumped right in and started stapling the cloth to the underside of the first seat, working our way around the outer edge.

Recovering dining room chairs is quick and easy using this method.

 

(A few times, we doubled up around the corners – we figured extra reinforcement couldn’t hurt) 😉 At first, it was slow going, but as we started to realize what was working, we got faster. The corners were the main thing that slowed us down a smidge.

Finished Dining Room Chair Seats

The corners of the dining room chairs are the trickiest, but even they aren't too bad. Give this project a go and you'll see how easy it is...

Before we knew it, we were done with the first 4 chairs (2 of the 6 chairs needed new board underneath before being recovered with oilcloth – so those had to wait). My friend was delighted with the new look of her chairs and seeing her happy always brings a smile to my face.

So there you have it! In just a couple hours, you could have your dining room chairs freshened up and ready for many more years of use.

Your dining room chairs don’t have upholstered seats, but you’d like to update them with a great Farmhouse look? Check out these chairs that I painted with Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint! I adore them…

Don’t forget to pin for later!

Recovering old dining room chairs is a breeze using this method. No special tools needed! In one afternoon, you can have a "new" set of chairs!

 

How about you? Have you recovered chair seats before? Do you have some seats that need to be recovered? If you have children, I highly recommend using oilcloth as your fabric of choice. It can’t be beat for wear-ability and scrub-ability – both essential if you have children in your life. Recovering seats is a simple way to update tired, worn-out chairs who need a facelift. Give it a go! Let me know if you have any questions – I love to hear from you.

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1915 House, DIY, Furniture Re-do

Comments

  1. Brenda says

    October 19, 2017 at 2:54 am

    Hi I am new to this and I have 4 chairs I would love to have your help on this.. I was amazed on how you did the chairs in no time.

    • 1915house says

      October 21, 2017 at 11:24 am

      Thanks, Brenda- best of luck to you with your chairs!:)

  2. Melba Lanham says

    September 27, 2017 at 10:07 am

    I found your blog last evening… I cannot stop!!! I just keep moving from one project to another.
    Thank you for this! It is awesome! So much inspiration, so many details on ‘how to’ and so many answers to my questions.
    Thank you… thank you… thank you!

    • 1915house says

      September 27, 2017 at 4:56 pm

      Welcome to the blog, Melba! I’m so happy to “meet” you here! Your comment has made my day – it is my passion to help and encourage women in their home journey. And I’m delighted that you’ve found inspiration here! Enjoy and I look forward to connecting with you here again – have a great day!

  3. Lorena says

    July 8, 2017 at 11:29 am

    Where can I find under the chair boards?

    • 1915house says

      July 12, 2017 at 9:41 am

      Hi Lorena! I think a piece of plywood, cut to size might be your best bet. I’m not sure if you can find standard-size under chair boards. The ones on these chairs, were already there – we just re-used the existing ones. I hope that helps?

  4. Tayler says

    November 4, 2016 at 9:40 am

    How many yard of fabric did you buy

    • 1915house says

      November 4, 2016 at 5:04 pm

      Hi Tayler – all fabric is different widths, so depending on the width of your fabric, that will determine how much fabric you need to buy. I think we used approx 2-3 yards of fabric for this project with 6 chairs – and had some fabric left over. I hope that helps.

  5. Sonja Duruji says

    February 23, 2016 at 7:09 am

    Another masterpiece by Sarah, the Great. Kudos, my talented friend.

    • 1915house says

      February 23, 2016 at 1:26 pm

      Oh, Sonja, my friend, You are so kind. But thank you for the sweet words and for your support. <3

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Welcome to 1915 House - where you'll find inspiration and ideas to create a home you love - on a shoestring budget. So come on in! Grab a hot cuppa, find a cozy spot and stay a while. Let's chat all things "home"... Read More…

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