How to Reupholster the Seat of a Wooden Chair

Are you tired of your tired-looking upholstered chair seats in your kitchen or dining room? For very little cost and only a couple of hours of your time, you can reupholster the seats of those wooden chairs and give them a new life.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Screwdriver Fabric Scissors Staple gun Cambrick dustcover for bottom of seat Craft glue or hot glue gun

1. Turn chair over and remove screws that attach seat to chair frame.

2. Unless the existing seat cover is badly damaged or has a bad odor, you will get better results by simply reupholstering directly over the existing seat cover without removing it.

3. Lay out your fabric wrong side up and place chair seat on fabric with the underneath side facing you.

4. Cut a new cover for the chair seat. The fabric for the new seat cover should be at least 4 inches larger on all sides than the chair seat itself. Once you begin cutting the fabric, try not to remove the seat from the fabric. Immediately proceed to Step 5.

5. Attach the new seat cover to the chair seat. Begin on the straightest side of the chair seat and bring the edge of the fabric up around the depth of the seat to the bottom of the chair seat. In the center of this side fasten a staple about an inch from the outside edge of the chair. Then add staples from the center out, first toward one side and then toward the other side.

6. Staple the opposite side beginning in the center and moving to first one edge and then the other, the same way as in Step 5. Gently pull the fabric taut before inserting staples on this side.

7. Repeat stapling for the remaining two sides.

8. Cut a piece of cambrick slightly smaller than the bottom of the chair seat.

9. Put a bead of glue around the edge of the cambrick and glue it to the underside of the chair seat to hide staples and raw edges of fabric.

10. Reattach seat bottom to chair with screws. It's OK to screw right through the cambrick.

Tips & Warnings

• Be careful not to put staples over the holes for the screws that attach the seat to the chair frame. Cambrick is an unwoven fabric made for upholstery and is available at upholstery, fabric and craft supply stores.