How to Restore Stool Cushions

Stool cushions take a beating from use.

As the fabric on a well-loved stool cushion wears out, your go-to bar seat looks old, faded and dated. You can restore the look and feel of your cushion by reupholstering it with a fabric you love. Leave yourself a few hours to restore one cushion and a day to do a set of four. Go shopping for a fabric before you begin, and choose a medium-weight or an upholstery fabric for long-lasting coverage.

Things You'll Need

• Hammer or pry bar
• Fabric
• Pencil
• Measuring tape (optional)
• Scissors
• Staple gun (optional)
• Nails (optional)
• Hot glue gun (optional)
• Hot glue (optional)
• Decorating piping (optional)

Instructions

1. Remove the old upholstery from your stool cushion using a hammer to remove nails or a pry bar to take up staples. Turn the stool over to access the underside, where the cushion joins the metal or wood.

2. Place your fabric upside down on a table. Lay the old upholstery over the new fabric and trace its outline in pencil to get a template that's just the right size to be stretched over the cushion and secured. If you don't have an old cushion cover, measure the cushion's top and sides, then add 1 inch on all sides and make your own template.

3. Cut out the cushion template using scissors.

4. Smooth any lumps in the cushion material using your hands.

5. Arrange the template over the cushion so the pattern is centered and you have at least 1 inch of extra room on all sides. Smooth the fabric to remove wrinkles.

6. Staple or nail one end of the fabric in place, pulling it to the underside of the stool. If your piece used staples, use a staple gun. If your stool used nails to secure the cushion cover, use a hammer and nails.

7. Pull the material directly across from the area you just secured to stretch it, tucking it under the stool. Staple or nail this fabric. The fabric should be tight, but not so tight that it can't move or give. If you feel it's too tight, remove the nail or staple and reposition it.

8. Secure the other two sides in the same manner, again stretching the fabric. Add additional staples or nails around the edges until you've secured the cushion.

9. Glue decorative piping around the edge of the cushion using hot glue, if you desire. Plug in a glue gun and allow it to heat up, then glue the area where you want the piping to go, and press the piping to the hot glue.

Tips & Warnings

• Rounds cushions don't have sides, but you still need to distribute the fabric's weight evenly when applying the fabric cover. Think of the round cushion as a compass and secure the north side, then the south and then the east and west sides.

References

• "Country Living"; Reupholstering a Chair
• "Mother Earth News"; How to Reupholster Furniture; Virginia Schmitz; November/December 1974