Reupholstering a Sofa Chair, Part 2

Here we go.....

What supplies do you need?

• Needle nose pliers
• Flat head screwdriver
• Hammer/Rubber Mallet
• Staple gun
• Cording (if your chair has piping you may be able to salvage it)
• Fabric
• New Foam or batting (if needs replaced)
• Patience, lots and lots of Patience

Step 1:  This is the MOST IMPORTANT step of this whole project.  Take pictures of all sides of the chair before you remove anything.  If you don't you will not remember how to put it back together.  If you think you won't need them, you are wrong.  (by the time I got it torn apart I could not remember anything about how it looked.)  Without them I would have been lost.

These are a few of the ones I took.

 

Step 2, 3 and 4 all go together.  So read them all before you start.

 

Step 2:  Remove all the staples!!!!!  About 5 minutes into this is when I asked myself.... "Why did I decide to do this?"  The number of staples in these chairs was ridiculous.  I think each one of my chairs had at least 800 staples in them.  (this is NOT a joke)

 

Step 3:  Take pictures as you go.  Again this is not something you want to skip.  As you take the chair apart you will want to have record of where and how each piece is put on.  This will help you put it back together.  Also keep track of the order you are taking the pieces off.  You will put them back on in reverse order of how you removed them.

 

I took about 50 or more pictures.  Don't be afraid to take to many.  It is not possible.  You will reference them later.

 

 

Step 4:  Save each piece of fabric you remove and LABEL them.  Do NOT just pull the fabric off and rip it.  You will use the original fabric pieces in Step 6.  So you need to know what they are and where they go.  (For example: Back, Arm, Seat, Front, R Side, L Side, etc.)

 

Also save all the Ply-Grip. (the long metal, sharp things you find on the chair. You can reuse these if they are in good shape.  If they are bent you can straighten the spikes out with the needle nose pliers and they will work fine.)   

 

Step 5:  After you have removed all the staples and all the fabric.  It is time to cut the "new fabric" for the chair.  This is where you will use the pieces you removed.  They are your pattern. 

 

 

What I did was lay each piece out on the new fabric and try to get the least amount of waste as possible.  (Make sure as you cut the pieces out, you label the new ones.)

 

Step 6:  Add the piping/cording around the arms.  Head over to: Make it & Love it 

for a great tutorial on how to make the piping.  Then attach it to the fabric for the arm. 

This was a very difficult step for me.  It took many tries until I got it right.  I don't have any pictures of how to do this because it was so frustrating.   (the before pictures came in handy on this step.)

I tried to skip this step but the chair just didn't look right without it.   (This is what it looks like finished.)

 



Step 7:  Time to put the chair back together.  (This is where you will be so happy you took all those pictures.)  Make sure you put the chair back together in the reverse order you took it apart.  The key is to pull the fabric tight.  (If you don't pull the fabric tight you will have to remove it and start over.  I had to do this more than once.) 

 

Step 8:  After you get all the main pieces put on it is time for the finishing touches.  Mine was the sides and back panel.  This is where you will use those lovely "spike strips"  called Ply-Grip.  The key to this is Go Slow.  Folding over the fabric a little at a time to make sure it is tight and smooth.  Use a hammer or rubber mallet to slowly tap the spikes into the wood.  This will cover up all the staples.  Watch your fingers though, the spikes hurt. 

 

 

Step 9:  DON'T GIVE UP!!!  You will want to. You will think about throwing it out the window.  Just keep going, you can finish it.  If I can do it, you can do it. 

 

Step 10:  This is an extra step I added, but might be a good tip, if you run into the same problem I did. 

My chair legs were originally covered with fabric.  (I didn't like that.)  I was planning to just stain them a dark wood color, at least that was what I wanted.  Unfortunately, when I removed the fabric, this is what I found.

YUCK!!!

Great now what am I going to do?  Well, it just so happens that while I was working on the chair I was also watching the DIY Network.  (love it and watch it all the time.  My family is a little sick of it.)  Anyway, the show I was watching (I think it was Man Caves) used veneer edging to cover the edge of a piece of plywood and make it looked finished. 



Of course, I thought that would be perfect.  So I made a trip down to Home Depot and after 15 min of trying to find the right isle, I found it.  It is super easy to use.  All you need is regular scissors and an iron.  So that is exactly what I did. 

I applied the veneer and stained it with my Minwax Dark Walnut stain.  Here is what it looks like now.

(obviously you would want to do this before you assemble the chair with the new fabric. You don't want to get stain all over the new chair.)  I just put it at the end because it is an extra step I had to do.

 

 

 

The last and final step of it all is...... Enjoy it!!!  

 

 

It took me quite a while to get the first chair put back together but the second one was a breeze.  It was worth all the hard work and frustration.  We sit in them all the time.

Here is the Before and After:

Cost of this project.....  $20/chair, $50/fabric, total cost: $90.00 for two beautiful "new" old chairs.

These chairs are now part of our new sitting area.  It is where I sit every morning and enjoy my coffee.   Post of finished area..... coming soon.