DIY Upholstered Dining Chairs

Finally! I have completed a DIY project appropriate for this blog. And it wasn't that difficult.

Remember these chairs that I got from my Craigslist windfall?

Well, I wasn't a fan of the rush seats, and they were a little dusty and squeaky. So I did a little google research, and it didn't seem like it would be that hard to upholster them without completely tearing apart the seat. I went to Fabric Corner in Arlington, MA. They have an amazing selection of fabrics, notions, etc. and the salespeople were really helpful. They had a great section of these quirky Japanese vintage prints in linen cotton. This is the one I picked up:

Did you know? Birds = Crafty!

I forgot to take pictures of the process but it was really quite easy.

1. Cut 1" foam into shape of the chair seat.

Some online tutorials start with taking off the seat, but since mine is attached to the frame with the rush, that wasn't really an option. I traced out the chair seat on some scrap fabric, then cut that out and traced it onto the foam. The guy at Fabric Corner recommended using a regular kitchen knife to cut the foam. Just make sure you have a cutting board or cardboard underneath so you don't scratch up the surface below. I used scissors to cut out the round corners of the seat. It wasn't a perfect match, but good enough. This was definitely the hardest step!

2. Cut fabric with about a 3" allowance around the sides of the seat.

i.e. you need enough fabric to cover the seat plus an additional 1" for the thickness of the seat, 1" for the foam, and another 1" margin of fabric to attach to the bottom of the seat.

3. Cover seat with fabric and staple gun to bottom of chair.

I folded the corners under and then just stapled all around the bottom of the seat. It was as easy as that!

Of course, I don't know how long the fabric will really stay attached to the seat like that. But I'm hoping it will make it at least through the baby shower I am throwing for my friend in a few weeks. So far, it has managed to stay put even with my butt parking on it.

Et voila! My first posted DIY project!

It was super easy and didn't take that long. Cutting the foam was the most labor-intensive part. I had also toyed with the idea of painting the wood on the chairs, but couldn't decide on black, white, or restaining it a wood color. Plus, I had a deadline. Luckily, the staples are easy enough to remove that if I feel like rehabbing the wood, I can just redo the seats. And I have enough fabric left to do the four other rush seats I bought off CL - or placemats, a runner, purses...the possibilities are endless!

One more shot of all the chairs around the table: