Office - Chair Makeovers

So, I'm finally getting around to posting about the chair makeovers for my office re-do you might remember from here. This is a step by step through our process. My awesome super-talented DIYer of a mom, Kathleen, helped make this project possible! A little reminder of the before...

And the afters...

So here is the breakdown of the steps we took!

First, we needed to take the chair upholstery apart.

We were careful not to rip or tear the pieces on at least one chair so that we could use them as patterns for the new fabric. We also tried to be careful not to harm the foam inserts so that we could use them again. We marked them with arrows up and down to make it easier to put them back in.

We also did this for the fabric pieces in the same way.

Next we painted the frames with an off-white semi-gloss that I had left over from painting trim.

After using the old pieces as patterns we cut out the stripes for the backs of the chairs. This had to be the  first piece to go on. This got stapled in on the inside. I would suggest to not pull this extremely tight as there needs to be a bit of give when we sit in the chair and you want it to follow the contour.

Next we cut out the front of the chair. We lined this up the same on each chair so the pattern would be the same up and down and across. 

We ironed a fold in the edges so we wouldn't have to fold it while keeping the foam insert in place. This let the piece fit in perfectly.

We layed in the piece of foam and then layed this piece of fabric on top (exactly like the pattern dictated). We started at the top and stapled it into place. Those outside staples show, but will eventually be covered with the piping. Try to keep them as close to the edge as possible. It's easier to secure the top and bottom and then middle sides and then fill in the rest of the staples. This lets you make sure you aren't pulling the fabric off center as you go around the edges. Just be careful not to stretch the fabric too much while you are working on it.

Next Mom made piping because we could find double piping. To apply the piping we used super glue and tacked around with small staples. If you trim the piping on a slant it makes it easier to line up at the ends.

The bottom of the chair is much easier to do. Here is the process explained. Use the old fabric as your pattern to cut out the new fabric. We made sure that all of the fabric pieces were on the same part of the fabric pattern. Staple top and bottom first and then one on each side making sure you stretch it taut. Then fill in the staples in between stretching the fabric as you go. On the corners pull the fabric and staple it right in the center. Then work from each side of the corner pulling and stapling it in place. This will make it smooth on the top. Trim away any excess. If you want to finish off the bottom so that you won't see any staples you can cut a piece of fabric about an inch smaller than the bottom of the chair and secure in place with staples.

Are you still here? Did you make it to the end? Hope this helps inspire you to tackle your own chair project!