We bought our dining room set about 10 years ago. I instantly fell in love with the table, but I was bummed that the chairs were upholstered. I knew that the vinyl would eventually break down, and that I would have the daunting task of reupholstering our dining room chairs.
We had a good run (about 8 years), but as expected, the material on our 2 benches began splitting and chipping away on the edges.
When we completed the dining room makeover last spring, I decided to reupholster the benches. The project stalled when John and I began debating whether or not we wanted to keep the benches. The benches were great for little kids, but our teenagers don’t love them. So, I began searching for regular chairs to replace them. As luck would have it, I found chairs that matched our table perfectly. The only problem was that 4 of them costed about $550. Not wanting to spend that much money, I hesitated to make the purchase. Months rolled by, but we never seemed to have the extra $550 to purchase the chairs.
Last weekend, on a whim, I decided to reupholster the benches. I was worried that I would destroy our furniture, but I am happy to report that the benches look AMAZING! The project was cheaper and easier than I anticipated. We spent $40 on the vinyl fabric & batting and an additional $35 on an electric staple gun & heavy duty staples. All and all, not too expensive.
Step by step tutorial to reupholster dining room chairs
Supplies: screw driver, pliers, fabric scissors, fabric, batting, staple gun, heavy duty staples
Step 1: Remove the seat from the chair
We flipped our bench over and removed the screws that attached the seat to the frame.
Step 2: Remove the old material from the seat
John used a screwdriver and pliers to remove all the staples holding the old material in place.
Step 3: Wrap the old foam in batting
Once the old material was removed, I inspected the foam cushions. They were still in decent shape, so I simply wrapped the old foam with new batting. I attached the batting to the frame with my staple gun. I used fabric scissors to cut away the excess batting.
Step 4: Wrap the seat in the new material
I cut my fabric large enough to allow a 2 inch overlap on all sides of the cushion. After cutting the fabric to size, I laid the fabric face down and placed the seat on the top.
I began attaching the fabric to the seat, pulling up tightly on the fabric before stapling. Periodically, I flipped the seat over to check the fabric. I wanted to avoid any wrinkles in the finished product. In full disclosure, the corners were a pain. I took my time and reworked them several times. Once I was satisfied with how the material looked, I cut away the excess fabric.
Step 5: Reattach the seat to the chair
John reattached the newly covered seat to the bench frame.
Our benches look brand new! I am so impressed with how everything turned out. I hope this post gives you the confidence to dive into a reupholstering project at your house!
