Dining Chair Upholstery Made Easy

Hello everyone! I’m so happy to be back. After a couple of weeks off, I am back with lots of great new projects, ideas, and recipes. Where have I been, you ask? Buying a new house!!! Yay!!! In The New House finally has a new house! More on that very soon. But for now, let’s talk upholstery. Have you ever seen a great chair at an antique store that you passed up only because the fabric was old and gross? Or maybe you have a dated dining set that could use a facelift. Reupholstering sounds so intimidating because it involves altering furniture, but for something like a dining chair it is incredibly easy. I’ll show you some sneaky little tips and tricks on how to upgrade your chairs to make them look brand new.

Here’s a little backstory. Ever since I was a small child, I’ve been madly in love with my grandparents’ fancy dining table. My grandmother is quite the entertainer (you can learn more about her here) so she had a regular dining table for normal meals, and a fancy dining table for elaborate meals and guest overflow. I never wanted to sit at the “kids’ table” at Thanksgiving because I loved that “fancy table” so much. It’s a gorgeous cherry antique set with perfectly shaped curves and an amazing glow that shines when the sunlight hits it. My grandmother babied this set and it is in the exact same condition as when she bought it (minus a few dings and scratches, probably caused by me). One fantastic day my grandfather called and said they were in the market for a new dining set and it was finally my time to own the furniture I dreamed of having. It wouldn’t fit in my rental at the time so my mother had to foster it at her house for a year. But now that I have the new house I have somewhere to put my beloved table. (Truth is, we actually bought the house we chose just because it had a great spot to display the table.)

The downside to my new furniture ownership is the chair fabric is also original. It is a dark mustard-colored yellow and a little dingy. I knew I needed to upgrade the cushions before I put the beautiful work of art on display so I tried my hand at upholstery.

Such a big difference, right? Just by giving the wood a good cleaning and the seat some fresh fabric, it looks like a brand new dining chair set. (I didn’t realize I took the first picture of one without arms and the second with arms. Oops.) All I needed was a staple gun, staples, scissors, and fabric. I got the fabric at Hobby Lobby when it was on sale for 40% off. Score!

Hope this clears up any intimidation you may be feeling about upholstery. Dining chairs are really the easiest thing to do and a great starter project if you are interested in learning about recovering furniture. Now that I’ve mastered the dining chair I think I’ll try something else. You should try it too!

You can see my dining room tour here