Desk Chair Reupholstery: Before & After

This project is one I began a few months ago (in November!?!) We garbage-picked this desk chair way back when we lived in Ohio. (See my prior post on garbage-picking.) We lived in a neighborhood where people would often put items out on their lawn that they no longer wanted but were in good shape. But I still call it garbage-picking because it seems funny.

There wasn’t really anything wrong with the chair before I recovered it…but I wanted it to be something special and add some interest to our kitchen.

I did use quilting-weight cotton. I ironed some fusible fleece to the back of the fabric to make it [hopefully] more durable.

To get started, I detached the back and seat from the chair using a drill. Then I removed the plastic pieces covering the staples securing the fabric. After that, I removed the staples and the fabric to get to the chair’s foam padding.

This project would’ve been super simple if I hadn’t cracked the plastic seat bottom and seat back when I was taking the original black fabric off of the chair. The plastic was what hid the staples securing the fabric to the chair. To do the top of the seat and front of the back rest, I just stapled the fabric to each wood piece (similar to what I did for the first steps of this rocking chair).

However, as you can see, I had to cover the back of the chair with fabric and blue trim/piping. This required getting out my ply-grip and doing the same process I used for the rocking chair reupholstery. However, I have a better stapler this time (it is just a manual stapler) but I didn’t have to use upholstery tacks this time like I did for prior projects!

I also used the ply-grip for the bottom. I won the fabric from Sew, Mama, Sew about 2 years ago! I am so glad to finally have used [some] of it. My wonderful husband and dad made this desk. Our house has a little alcove in the kitchen and so they just built in this super cute desk. [They would want me to note that it still needs some trim around the edges. But I’m using and enjoying it as is!]

I am so glad the chair is done. It took me forever, but turned out well! Looking back, using a quilting-weight light colored cotton print wasn’t the smartest choice for the kitchen!

I did use two coats of Scotch Guard in an attempt to protect my hard work.

Rocking Chair Reupholstery Part II

So far, the chair looks good from the front.

But the back is not finished.

Finishing things up proved to be the most challenging part so far.

The first challenge was that I was using a manual staple gun and not getting the staples all the way into the wood. I debated buying a 'real' upholstery staple gun (pneumatic or electric) but that would cost $150+ dollars. Not very frugal!

So I put off finishing the chair for about 5 months!

My dad suggested trying to hammer in tacks to the wood. I tried that and it worked well! It took forever, but it was worth saving money.

The first thing I hammered in was the trim for the back.

The next thing I used was ply-grip. Here's a great how-to video about ply-grip. Ply-grip is the metal stuff at the edge that allows you to finish an upholstery project without any staples showing and with all raw edges tucked in.

You need ply-grip on three sides. On the fourth side, you can tack (or staple) the fabric down.

This is how you'd tack it down:

Then the opposite side should get tucked into the ply-grip. I waited until the very end to use the mallet to bump it into place (see the video, I can't quite get the point across in pictures).

This is what the back looks like after pulling all four sides tight under the ply-grip:

Closer view of the back:

This is the bottom. I used the same technique to attach the solid navy fabric to the bottom. However, I did have to fold it a bit around the legs of the chair so it isn't as tight.

Rocking Chair Reupholstery Part I

Do you remember the rocking chair I posted about awhile ago? It was my mom's that I found in the attic. Well, I finally got around to reupholustring it! It was my first true reupholustery project. Here's how I went about it:

First, I stripped the chair of the fabric and padding. I carefully saved the fabric and labeled it in order. Mine only had three pieces, which made it a simple first project.

Then I ironed the original fabric flat so I could trace it onto the new fabric.

Here's the chair:

I had removed the burlap from the back, so I added a new piece. I think it keeps the foam in place and from sliding out between the rungs on the chair's ladder back.

I cut foam to fit the back of the chair. I used an electric knife straight out of the kitchen!

Then I just went for it! I started stapling (using a manual staple gun; I've read it is better to use a hydraulic gun but I do not have one.) I started at the bottom of the fabric. I also read it is important to keep the fabric pulled very tight while stapling.

I needed more hands, so I had to get my hubby to help me hold the fabric taught. I was excited at how the back turned out!

I did have to hammer some of the staples flat b/c they didn't quite make it into the old wood. My dad says wood dries and hardens with age.

Here's what the back looks like so far. Don't worry; I'm going to cover it up soon!

We did the seat's bottom next. Here's how it turned out!

All that is left now is the bottom and back of the chair. Stay tuned for Part II of this post to see how it turns out!

Recovered Dining Room Chairs

Sorry, no tutorial for this project. But there are TONS of tutorials out there.

My before picture was very blurry, so I deleted it! But these were covered in navy blue needlepoint covers. This is a big improvement!

Reupholstery Project

We found this rocker in my parents' attic. It was my mom's when she was a kid...and probably my Aunt's before that. And then my cousins used it, and then my brother and me.

After we found it, I put it in her car to take to Goodwill.

But then rescued it. I do want to reupholster, so why not start with something small? My little boy can probably use it for awhile yet!

Stay tuned for the project to begin...I have to figure out what tools one needs to take out the tacks.