Re-Covering a Chair - From Dust to Delight
Re-covering a chair is very satisfying upcycling project - the difference it makes can be dramatic. Take a look at how different this dusty old chair I salvaged now looks. The structure of the chair is beautifully designed and it is very functional and comfortable. Now, with its new covering of art nouveau style blue bird and butterfly fabric, it looks incredibly stylish too.
A lot of upholstery can be done with tools that you will more than likely have - scissors, a hammer, craft knife, tape measure and screwdriver. However, the tools above should definitely be invested in to make upholstering much, much easier! First, a staple remover - the red tool above. You wedge the tip under the old staple or nail you need to remove - then lever it up. Its companion tool is a pair of nose pliers - also pictured above. Once you've levered your staple up and out, this can help grab it and pull it out. Finally, a staple gun. Initially, I had a manual one - but I inherited my Dad's electric one, and it makes a real difference to be able to drive the new staples in through the fabric.
Upholstery is a very simple process. Use your tools to take off all the old fabric, staples and foam - then build it back up again with new foam and fabric. It can be helpful to take photographs of it at each stage, so you can remember how to put it back together again. It can be a dusty job - in the film above, you can see me scraping off old foam with a butter knife. I then had to sand the remaining foam down so that the surface would take on the glue for the new foam. You can see I took this chair right back to its original wooden frame. I get sinus problems so I always make sure I remove as much of the old upholstery as possible.
The film above is a time lapse of me upholstering the lower section. At this point, I'd cut my 1 inch foam out to the correct shape - I just used a craft knife to do this. I'd stuck the foam on with wood glue - I used Gorilla wood glue. Due to the construction of the chair, it was easier to do this in two sections. I tend not to cut my fabric down too much initially - rather, I get it into position first, then stretch it from the middle out to the corners. I rotate it often so one side does not get stretched too much. With the art nouveau fabric pattern I used - based on a bird called a Blue Dacnis - it is really important that you maintain the straight lines and do not accidentally misalign it! If you are new to upholstery, I strongly suggest using a fabric where you don't need to worry about pattern matching or straight lines. Remember to choose a robust fabric which can withstand lots of usage. You can see how stunning the chair looks in its new fabric. Upholstering a chair is both satisfying and achievable - give it a go!
