How to Reupholster a Dining Chair

Recovering a dining chair is simple. It's about a 30 minute project that can brighten up any drab, thrift store chair. I decided to use a dress I bought at the thrift store to recover a chair that looked as though it needed some love. The frame was in great shape but the seat was all torn up and let's just say....ugly.

Old chair - $5 at thrift store

Sundress - $2 at thrift store

All you need are the following materials:

• An old chair with a padded seat
• A piece of fabric 3 inches bigger on all sides than the cushion
• Screwdriver
• Staple gun
• Fabric scissors

Directions:

• First, unscrew the cushion from the chair frame. Place the screws somewhere where they won't get lost.

• Then, iron your fabric and make sure it's big enough for your cushion. My fabric was thin and see-through and the dress came with a lining so I decided to double up the lining and the fabric.
• Trim the fabric all around the cushion so there's about 3 inches on all sides.

• With the cushion face down on the fabric, stretch one side tightly around and staple in the middle. Do this on each side, turning the cushion over once in a while to make sure there aren't any wrinkles. 

• Next, staple the corners of the cushion by gathering up the fabric so it looks nice. Staple all of the corners.

• Now, staple along the edge of the fabric, stretching it taut as you go. Check the other side of the cushion for wrinkles. If there are any, either pull out the staple by the wrinkle and redo or just tug the fabric and staple it down.
• When you've stapled all around the edge trim the edge so there's about 1/2 inch of fabric next to the staples. 

• Finally, screw the cushion back onto the frame.

Voila!

Before and after!