Upholstering a dining room chair can add character and comfort to any seat, and can emphasize the natural beauty of oak's distinctive grain. The key is making sure your material is smooth and tight, leaving you with a professional quality chair. You will need a friend to assist you.
Instructions
1. Remove the seat from the frame of the chair by removing all the screws from the underside of the seat. Keep the screws to reattach the seat after it is upholstered. Use chalk to draw an arrow pointing toward the front of the seat. The upholstery will cover about an inch around the edge of the seat, so keep your arrow near the center.
2. Use scissors to cut the foam to fit your seat. Make it about 1/4-inch bigger than your seat on each side, so the upholstery will look rounded when you are finished. After the foam is cut, trim the fabric to the size and shape of the seat, leaving about 4 inches extra around the edges.
3. If the fabric has a pattern or a stripe, tack the fabric down on each side of the seat to keep the design straight while you work. Don't hammer the tacks in all the way; they will be removed before you start stapling.
4. Have your friend hold the seat upright while you begin stapling. Starting in the corner, use one hand to pull the fabric tight over the foam to the bottom side of the seat, and the other hand to staple to fabric in place. Keep the staples about 1" from the edge of the seat. Once you have finished the first side, trim the excess fabric before moving on to staple the opposite side. Starting with sides that are opposite rather than next to each other makes folding the corners easier in the next step.
5. For the final two sides, fold the fabric tightly over the corner straight toward the opposite side of the seat, creating a fold in the fabric just as you would if you were making a bed. Make sure any wrinkle or extra slack in the fabric is smoothed and pulled tight; this is especially important for these last staples, because the seat in this stage will look just like the final product, and any imperfections will remain.
6. Use the screws you removed before to reattach the seat to the body of the chair, using your arrow to match the front of the seat with the front of the frame. Make sure the seat is positioned the way you want it before you screw it back on, tucking the fabric into the frame and positioning the corners where you want them before tightening the screws.
Tags: side seat, each side, edge seat, fold fabric, front seat