How to Redo a Wooden Chair With Partial Vinyl Nailheads

Upholstering or reupholstering a wooden chair is a popular activity for DIY enthusiasts and crafty individuals with a hands-on approach to decorating. Partial vinyl nailheads are an excellent decorative touch and they can help hold the fabric to the seat of the chair. Nailheads are not necessary, but they do make the upholstery job seem more complete and they can also give the chair the appearance of being more solidly constructed.

Things You'll Need

• Screwdriver
• Plastic sandwich bag
• Slab of 1 inch foam
• Marker
• Scissors
• Spray adhesive
• Batting
• Staple gun and staples
• Fabric
• Partial vinyl nailhead strip and matching decorative nails
• Mallet

Instructions

1. Turn the chair over and unscrew the seat from the chair frame. Keep the screws in a baggy. If you're doing multiple chairs at once, mark the seats and the frames with chalk so you can match the same seats to the same chairs later.

2. Lay the seat on the foam and trace around it with a marker.

3. Use scissors to cut inside the lines you drew on the foam, with a 1/2-inch gap between the cut and the line you drew.

4. Spray the seat of the chair with spray adhesive, and spray the side of the foam that will face into the chair seat. Lay the foam, adhesive side down, onto the chair seat. Line up the foam so that the edge of the foam is approximately 1/2 inch away from the edges of the seat on all sides.

5. Cover the seat with batting and cut the batting so the edges will wrap around the seat and overlap with the underside approximately 1 inch on each side.

6. Lay the batting on the work surface and lay the seat centered over the batting, underside of the seat facing up.

7. Wrap the edges of the batting around the underside of the seat. Use a staple gun to staple the batting into the underside of the seat. Space the staples approximately 1 inch apart.

8. Lay the seat down on the fabric of your choice and cut around the fabric, but leave a space between the edge of the fabric and the seat so that the fabric will wrap over the edge of the seat and cover the underside of the seat by 1 inch on each side. If your fabric is striped or patterned in some way, line up the stripes or pattern so it will be straight on the seat.

9. Lay the fabric wrong side up, and center the seat on top of the fabric, batting side down. Wrap the fabric around the edge of the seat and use the staple gun to staple the fabric to the seat. Space the staples 1 inch apart around the entire perimeter.

10. Cut a strip of nailhead trim long enough to cover one side of the seat. Position the nailhead trim at the corner of the side of the seat and nail the first decorative nail into the hole at the end of the strip. Nail decorative nails into each succeeding hole on the strip until you have attached the entire strip to one side. Repeat this process for the front and other side of the seat. Line up the nail strips at each corner so they appear to be one single long strip instead of three individual strips.

11. Screw the seat back into place on the chair frame, using the original screws.

Tips & Warnings

• If the seat of the chair was already upholstered, simply cover the old upholstery with the new fabric, instead of attaching batting and foam. If the old upholstery is damaged or moldy, pull it off by removing the old staples and place fresh batting on the old seat, then attach the new fabric.

• If there were already partial vinyl nailheads on the old seat, you'll need to remove that strip by carefully prying out the nailheads with needlenose pliers or a hammer claw. Replace the old strip with a new strip unless the old strip is in excellent condition, and you can find matching decorative nails.

• If the chair frame covers the edge of the chair seat, then you'll need to line the top of the wooden edge with the nailhead strip, instead of attaching the strip to the side of the seat.

• Some wooden chairs do not have easy to unscrew seats. Do not try to remove the seat if there are no visible screws that hold the seat in place. Instead, leave the seat on the chair. Attach the foam and batting straight onto the seat and turn the chair over to attach the batting and fabric to the underside of the chair.