It’s always a thrill to find a way to redesign or repurpose something you already own. For me, reupholstering a chair seat is a fine way to freshen up a room, bring a chair into a new location smoothly, or create a focal point with a chair.
Readers of the post ‘Using vintage fabrics in interior design’ have asked me to elaborate on the method for recovering seats in a chair with a removable seat. Fortunately, our extended family continues to grow, and we found ourselves in need of another chair to pull up to the table!
We have had this chair for years. The shape and design are lovely but it needed refinishing and a firmer, recovered seat. Painting the brown chair with Sherwin Williams ‘Tobacco’ paint and then using an Old Masters gel wipe in natural walnut to give it an antique created a finish to blend with the mix of painted and mahogany furniture in the dining room.
Typically, you can turn your chair over and locate the screws in the corners of the chair frame. These screws penetrate the wooden bottom of your chair seat. Loosen the screws until you are able to remove the seat.
If your chair has been recovered before it is best to remove these coverings before putting on another. At some point a chair has so many coverings it is difficult to press it back into the chair frame. Heavy duty staples may be difficult to remove, and it will be helpful to have an old screwdriver and pair of duck bill pliers to assist with the task.
In this picture you can see the underside of the chair seat. We determined the reason the chair was less firm was the lack of a solid bottom. My husband asked me to mark where the chair frame would be and he then cut a piece of wood to fit inside the hole and another to screw on top of it and hold it to the frame to turn it into a solid bottom chair. You can see what this looked like in the next photo.
When working with a printed fabric it’s a good idea to place the cushion on it and check that your image is centered on the chair seat.
When you have centered your chair seat on the printed fabric, pull the fabric up and over the edge to see how much fabric you will need to cut to cover the seat. It looks nice to leave yourself enough fabric to come up and over the edge of the seat and turn under the raw edge of the fabric. You can then cut the fabric to the size you need. The photo shows a way to use the cut from one side of the chair seat placed on the other side to ensure your left and right sides are the same. On this chair we have replaced the wooden seat so we don’t have the usual cover fabric underneath. As such, I am going to demonstrate a way to recover the seat and install a fresh piece of cover fabric as well.
Next, turn the chair seat over and place the fabric, centered on the cushion. When using toile or other fabrics where the design to the left and right of the center may not be identical, it’s helpful to use a ruler to ensure you have the central image placed correctly.
Now you are ready to begin stapling the printed fabric to the chair seat. Work with parallel sides; for example, staple the front edge, then pull against the staples to tighten the fabric as you staple the back edge. Then do the same with the left and right edges, leaving the corners unstapled. The Stanley Bostitch Heavy Duty stapler is easy to use and simple to reload. Follow the safety procedures associated with your stapler.
When it comes to the corners you can slightly gather the fabric or fold it into pleats. The “trick” is to get the two front corners to match one another and the same for the back. When you are satisfied you can hold them in place and staple. Extra fabric can be clipped away.
We inserted a wooden filler in the bottom of the chair seat and so will be recovering this area as well. Burlap is attractive and in keeping with the overall look of the chair. Here, the seat is placed on the burlap and the fabric is cut to size, leaving enough to come out over the staples in the toile fabric and have a turn under for a nicely finished edge.
Stapling the burlap onto the bottom of the chair seat and the finished chair seat.
Removing the extra layers of covering was helpful. The newly recovered chair seat pops right into the frame. Next is a view of what it looks like from underneath. The hole in the cross pieces houses the screws which hold the seat in place. This will be a welcome addition to the dining table where we can now seat up to 15! As it is easily moved, we can also use it in the great room.
Some might prefer to have several different fabrics in a room. I find it restful to use a solid along with a single coordinated print or one print throughout the room. In any event, whether you choose to use multiple fabrics or a limited fabric palette, the ability to recover a chair seat will be of great use to you!
These photos are from Hotel Peter and Paul in New Orleans where they have used large and small format gingham checks in various colors; each room done in a single color. The designers traveled to Europe and purchased over 700 antique pieces for the rooms in this former church. The fabrics, in custom-colored checks, were created by Filtex, a Swiss manufacturer.
Finally, repurposing and revitalizing can also happen with the fabric you choose when recovering a chair seat. This fabric embroidered with the letter “V” was removed from one of a pair of wing chairs we had in our former dining room. When we sent the chairs to be recovered again by the same man who did them originally, I asked him to save the chair back pieces of fabric for me. Have fun reinventing what you already have in hand!
