So you've just bought your dream house and after a lot of hard work and organization, you've gotten everything out of the boxes and moved your furniture into the new rooms. It's a great feeling to see everything in a fresh setting. Possessions take on new meaning and look slightly different in a new house. The lighting is different, the views are different, the way the rooms flow into one another is different. Furniture that faded in your previous home now shines.
When Tracy moved into her new home last spring this was the stage she loved best. "I've always been interested in interior design," says the 34 year old librarian. "So having a house full of empty rooms to decorate from scratch was a real thrill for me." Pulling the rooms together in her new two bedroom home was also challenging. "I work full time so decorating is more of a hobby than anything else. Plus, after we bought the house there wasn't much left in the budget for new furniture. I really had to get creative with what I had."
One of the things Tracy had to get creative with was an antique chair handed down to her from her grandmother in Iowa. "It's a really great chair,"she says, "the lines are perfect, but no matter where I put it in the house it looked ratty and wrong." She tried throwing blankets over it, angling it in corners, moving it from room to room. "It just wouldn't work," she says "I was almost ready to banish it to the basement when I got the idea to reupholster it to fit the room I wanted it in."
"I got a book on upholstery to see if it was something I could do. I was worried because I really can't sew. I'm all thumbs." What Tracy learned though was that with a staple gun and a bit of time she could get rid of the ugly without getting rid of the chair. "It took me all weekend, but it was worth it," she says beaming. "I get so many complements on it and the room now."
The chair did have one cushion that demanded sewing skills though. Tracy just took the cushion in to a local tailor with the fabric she'd chosen. "The tailor made me a perfect cushion with a zipper at the back, new padding and piped edges. I didn't even need to sew a stitch!" When all was said and done, she paid only a fraction of the cost it would have taken to either replace the antique chair or have a professional upholsterer do the job. "I can understand why they charge so much," says Tracy. "It's not necessarily difficult or expensive, but it's time consuming. You really have to love working with your hands."
The project was a great experience for her and something she plans to do more often. "I'm so glad to have this new skill," she says. "It's become a hobby for me." Tracy's next project will be the chairs in her dining room set.
If you're ready for a new hobby too, below are some of Tracy's re-upholstery tips. Best of luck!
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
-A staple gun, hammer, pliers and scissors
- 4 to 7 yards of fabric you love as much as the ugly chair
- Strip nails or stud strips (from fabric store or hardware store) and upholstery tacks
- Cardboard strips or tacking strip
If you want to do a really thorough job, the first and most important step in the process will involve carefully taking the old upholstery off the chair. Using the claw part of a hammer, pliers and or a screwdriver, remove the pieces that can come off first, first. As you're doing this, take note of how they were attached to the frame and the order in which you removed each piece. That way, you can simply reverse the order when you're putting the new ones on. If you are not one to take notes, take photos instead. You can also use the original upholstery as a pattern for the new material.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE::
- Staple cardboard strips or tacking strip to rough edges to get a smooth under surface or fold fabric over them and nail down to get clean edges
- Use stud strips or upholstery tacks to fasten the outside edges of finishing pieces and get an easy decorative trim at the same time
- When choosing your fabric avoid lines, stripes or patterns that have to be matched. Choose medium weight fabric. Fabric that's too heavy will be difficult to work with and fabric that's too light will tear.
Dining room chairs and chairs with more frame than material on them are relatively easy. For dining room chairs, just remove the seat from the chair with a screwdriver, cover it with the fabric of your choice, neatly staple it down on the underside, and then screw the newly covered seat back down. This also works really well for vintage kitchen chairs with vinyl seats.
For extra help as you embark on your project, get support from your local library or bookstore. There are plenty of great books on the market that will take you through the process step by step. Of course if you just want to get started, just get started! Use your intuition as you tuck, staple and hammer down, you have nothing to lose but an ugly chair.
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