How to upholster an old chair with your own hands. Upholstery and reupholstery of chairs. Removing old upholstery

It happens that the furniture frame is still capable of serving for a long time, but the upholstery has already failed. It's a shame to throw away such products. The Internet often searches for the answer to the question of how to reupholster a chair with your own hands step by step at home, using available materials. This is not difficult to do, the main thing is to prepare everything you need in advance and clearly understand the algorithm of work.

Before you start working at home, you need to select materials for upholstery and soft substrate. You can use what you have on hand, or purchase products from specialized furniture stores. Particular attention should be paid to the structure and density of the fabric.

For soft substrate

For a soft backing, you can use foam rubber. This is the most common and cheap material. Its more expensive and high-quality analogue is padding polyester. However, experts recommend using natural options, for example:

copra;
batting;
horsehair;
burlap.

The recommended thickness of the cushion is 3–5 cm for the back and 6.5–7.5 cm for the seat. If plywood base there are no springs, it is better to make all 10 cm. Otherwise, the person will feel discomfort while sitting on the chair for a long time.

Foam rubber

Sintepon

Copra

Batting

Horsehair

Sackcloth

For upholstery

The fabric for upholstering the chair should be dense and hold its shape well. Another important requirement is wear resistance. The material should be easy to clean from contamination.

	Peculiarities	Advantages	Flaws
Leather	Natural, environmentally friendly pure material, Not allergic. Available in a variety of colors	It lends itself well to mechanical stress, which is very convenient when re-upholstering.	May crack or warp due to sudden temperature changes. Cheap options look similar to leatherette
Jacquard	Consists of multi-colored threads or monochrome fibers. Has a textured surface	Long service life, durability	Heavy fabric, quite difficult to care for
Flock	Material with a small pile, the composition includes polyester and cotton. The base is covered with a thin layer of glue	Wear-resistant, easy-care fabric	High price
Velvet	Smooth fabric with a small pile, practically does not wrinkle	The fabric is easy to work with and upholstering the chair is very simple. Spectacular design	Quickly begins to shine and fade if not properly cared for.
	Between the spiral of two threads there is a pile. Looks like velor	Inexpensive, resistant to external influences	It is difficult to remove old, ingrained dirt
Tapestry	Has a dense rough texture, includes 3 layers of threads	Easy to wash and remove stains. Durable and comes in a variety of patterns	Wears out quickly, fades in case of prolonged exposure to the sun

When choosing material for children's furniture, you should choose options that do not cause allergic reactions. It is not recommended to use light-colored fabric, as it quickly loses its presentation.

Leather

Jacquard

Flock

Velvet

Chenille

Tapestry

Required Tools

Before you reupholster the chairs with your own hands step by step, you should take care of the tools. To work with textiles you will need sewing machine. For removing old upholstery I need an anti-stapler. The frame is dismantled using screwdrivers different diameters and pliers. Also home handyman should be prepared in advance:

thick cardboard;
glue and a brush for it;
furniture stapler with staples;
nails and hammer;
measuring instruments - tape measure, square, measuring tape.

Reupholstering a chair with your own hands can be done in different ways. If you don't have a furniture stapler, you can use wallpaper nails (with flared heads) instead. They fit smoothly into the upholstery and hold it well. Some craftsmen also use an attracting strip with screws, which reliably hides the seams (in this case, you need to pull the fabric simultaneously along the entire perimeter). However, special staples still last longer. The hammer can be successfully replaced rubber mallet, since when working on reupholstering furniture, great physical effort is not required.

Stages of work

Restoration and upholstery of chairs with leather consists of several stages, performed in a certain sequence. The main thing is to know how to change the upholstery. First, the product is freed from old fabric. The next step is dismantling the frame. Then it is attached new material with a soft backing and an updated backrest.

Removing old upholstery

Before you reupholster a chair, you need to expose its frame. You will need a special regulator to remove furniture staples. It can be purchased in specialized stores. Sequencing:

Align the edge of the adjuster with the center of the bracket, lift the tool up, pressing on the frame.
Wait until one of the ends of the fastener pops out.
Grab the staple with pliers and pull it out.
Repeat the same several times, depending on the number of fasteners.

After this, the fabric is removed. First, the seat of the chair is exposed. Then the upholstery is removed from the back.

Under no circumstances should you forcefully tear out the upholstery: intense mechanical stress can damage the frame. You need to remove old fabric from the seat in stages, starting from the edges and gradually moving to the center.

Disassembling the frame

To parse wooden frame For the components when reupholstering a kitchen chair, you will need a mallet. You need to tap the joints of the parts with a tool, and the product will easily fall apart into its components - the back, the base for the seat and the legs. The good condition of the parts is indicated by the absence of fungus and mold, scratches, nicks and chips. If the old parts are rotten, they need to be replaced (this often happens when the chair has been in a damp room for a long time).

Making a soft substrate

The size of the backing on the chair should correspond to the length and width of the seat (plus a seam allowance of 1.5–2 cm around the entire perimeter). Then, if there is excess fabric left, the protruding ends can be carefully cut off. Step-by-step instruction:

The pattern is made on paper or directly on the material. Form soft pillow can be square or round, it all depends on the seat.
The finished product is cut out with sharp tailor's scissors.
It is placed on the seat using glue, which dries in 10–15 minutes.
It is better to additionally add a small layer of synthetic padding on top.

You can make a soft base from horsehair or dried grass the old fashioned way. These materials are good because they last a long time. Also, dust mites do not breed in them.

Remove traces of old upholstery

Cut out the soft pad

Stick to the seat

Attaching new upholstery

When replacing the upholstery of a chair, you must perform all stages of the work correctly. The fabric tension should be as tight as possible. There should be no folds. You don't need to hit them with a hammer with full force. Step-by-step instructions for attaching the upholstery:

Secure in two places in the center - in the front and back.
Pull and secure left and right.
Evenly distributing the load, fasten it on both sides in turn.
Repeat step 3 back and front.

You can use wallpaper nails, but it will take longer. They should be short so as not to tear the soft backing. In this case, when repairing a chair with your own hands, you will additionally need a tape made of dense material.

Align the main fabric on the seat

Stretch and secure in several places with a stapler

Attach fabric around the perimeter

Finished seat

Restoration of the back of a chair

Working with the back consists of two stages - covering with fabric and applying paint coating. If there are cracks, they need to be puttied or sealed. Step by step guide will be as follows:

Pull the upholstery over the back of the product.
Fix the fabric with a stapler in the direction from the center to the periphery.
Glue foam in front.
Secure the fabric with the edging to the edge.

Next, the excess fabric for upholstering the chairs is cut off. The upholstery is decorated with braid to hide staples or nails. After this, you can varnish and paint the back. Acrylic is best. Substances on water based should not be used, this coating wears off quickly.

Features of re-tensioning the base with belts or a snake spring

To restore old chairs on canvas, you will need synthetic rubberized belts of approximately the same width. They are fixed in the center of the bar towards the frame. The new strip is secured with staples, rotated and fixed again. Then it is secured and tensioned on the opposite side. A soft substrate is placed on top. The tools you will need are a steelyard and a furniture stapler with staples.

You need to pull with a force of 1 kg on the seat, 8 kg on the back. When one side of the belt is already secured, a steelyard is hooked to the other end and pulled until the desired number appears. The desired length is marked with a marker.

To replace the snake spring, it must be fixed to the frame using special fasteners, and they, in turn, must be mounted using brackets on long legs. At correct location This part has a slightly curved shape. If you want the upholstery to last longer, place a fabric layer between the twisted wire and the pillow. This is done so that the foam rubber does not fray over time.

If the reupholstery of the chair is successful, you can try restoring other, larger upholstered furniture: an armchair, a sofa, Kitchen Area. The work is carried out according to the same principle, only the dimensions and shape of the product change. Restoring old broken things will help you save on buying new ones, and will also become a fun hobby for people who love to make things.

Video

Photo

Seeing a multi-colored cover on a chair, tightly tied with beautiful ribbons, you just want to lift it and see what condition the upholstery is in. Most often it turns out that it is deplorable. Are people really that scared of upholstering chairs with their own hands? This work is not as difficult as it seems, and the result will please you for a long time.

Anyone can reupholster chairs

Preparatory stage

Here is a list of tools and materials that we will need:

Fabric (chenille, jacquard, tapestry, flock). Before going to the store, you should measure the seat of the chair, adding 15-20 centimeters on each side. This reserve is needed for hems and upholstery heights.
Filling (sheet foam rubber 40 mm thick, batting, latex, padding polyester). When deciding how to reupholster a chair, we choose the appropriate padding. Polyurethane balls, buckwheat husks and others are definitely not suitable bulk materials. Still, the seat of the chair is not as airtight as a pillow, and it experiences considerable stress. After some time, the fine filler will slowly begin to crumble. If foam rubber is chosen for the seat, its density should be 30-50 kg/m3, otherwise during operation it will sag all the way to the plywood.
Cardboard for the pattern.
PVA glue.
Furniture stapler and staples (or hammer and furniture nails).
Pliers.
Screwdrivers.
Scissors, tailor's centimeter.
Pencil, chalk for marking material, ruler.

Removing old upholstery

Preparing fabric and foam

Re-upholstering requires a precise approach. You can't do without a template here. We place a piece of cardboard on a plywood seat and trace it with a pencil. We remove the plywood and add 2-4 cm to the drawing for allowances. Now the template can be cut out with scissors or a stationery knife.

Using a ready-made stencil, we cut out the foam rubber for the new upholstery using a sharp knife.

You can make a cardboard template, or copy the plywood seat directly onto the foam rubber

If the old fabric covering was not used to cut a new one, as was said earlier (well, you never know what happened, maybe oil was spilled on it), then we cut the material according to the same pattern. We trace it with chalk on the fabric and add 10 centimeters to the hem on all sides. Cut out the resulting outline.

If the fabric has a pattern, then upholstering chairs with your own hands becomes a little more complicated. In this case, we purchase the material with a reserve so that the picture lies in the center, without displacement, otherwise the chair will have an unpresentable appearance. We first apply the fabric to the seat, achieving the ideal arrangement of lines and patterns. We immediately record the result obtained with clear markings so as not to do the same work twice.

The seat of the chair in some models may not be a solid piece of plywood, but a frame intertwined inside with mesh or rubber. In this case, we check the condition of the wicker base. If the material has become unusable, we replace it with wide and dense rubber bands.

Note the replaced woven base

Chair seat reupholstery

Glue the foam to the top side of the plywood seat. After the glue has dried, we lay the upholstery fabric wrong side up, with the seat on it, the foam facing the fabric. We fold the fabric reserve on all sides onto the plywood. Now upholstering a chair with your own hands is no longer a sealed secret for us.

We successively target the edges of the upholstery to the plywood seat with a furniture stapler

Pulling the material tightly, we sequentially adjust the edges of the upholstery to the plywood seat, in increments of 1-2 cm. There should be no weak spots or large folds between the fasteners. We knock out unreliable staples with a hammer. Trim off excess fabric. If the chair seat square shape, at the corners we lay folds directed towards the center of the seat, bend the material and shoot it to the plywood.

Trim excess fabric

Chair reupholstery completed successfully

We install the reupholstered seat on the chair, attach the plates and screw all the screws into place. Now we can praise ourselves for what we have given new life old chair, saving family budget and once again confirming his reputation as a jack of all trades.

The dull and shabby upholstery of old chairs, which would still serve, but are already unbearably tired, can be easily updated. When looking for master classes on how to cover chairs with fabric with your own hands, you can find a lot detailed instructions with photos describing technologies for replacing the backs and seats of chairs, reupholstering the frame and replacing fillings.

Dull and worn upholstery on old chairs can be easily updated

As a rule, we are not talking about professional reupholstery of furniture, and the insides of the chair will still serve. If you only need to replace the upholstery of the chair, then most likely you will need a minimum set of auxiliary items necessary for this, and very little time.

Materials and tools for upholstering chairs

Upholstery fabric of your favorite color and texture;
Black fabric for covering the back of the seat;
Soft batting or foam rubber (if leaky);
Hot-melt adhesive, hot-melt gun (for securing the batting, if necessary);

Materials and tools for upholstering chairs

Pliers;
Scissors;
Phillips screwdriver;
Flat screwdriver;
Furniture stapler (construction).

Suitable type of upholstery fabric for the chair

The type of upholstery fabric depends on where the chair is placed and for what purpose it is used.

If chairs are in the kitchen, or if you need to cover kitchen stools, then most likely it is not advisable to use natural materials for upholstery, especially if there are children or pets in the house. All kitchen surfaces and objects are most susceptible heavy pollution, which neither wet nor dry cleaning can handle.

Some products can irrevocably damage upholstery, just like the art of growing family members, not to mention dog teeth and cat claws.

To upholstery fabrics kitchen chairs and stools the following requirements apply:

Waterproof;
Resistance to mechanical stress;
Inability to crumple;
Strength;
Fire safety;
Easy to care for.

All of the above characteristics have synthetic materials. It can be:

Leatherette, for example Arpatek, is an inexpensive “king” furniture upholstery;
Genuine Leather;
Eco-leather.

Synthetic materials have all the above characteristics.

The upholstery of furniture chairs for living rooms, dining rooms and offices should have slightly different characteristics, including:

Low or absent peelability (ability to form pellets);
External attractiveness;
Compatibility in style with other elements of the interior of the room - curtains, carpets, sofas;
Wrinkle resistance;
High wear resistance;
Resistance to fading in the sun;
Fire resistance;
Easy to clean.

Materials with the following properties:

Chenille - spirally twisted fibers with woven fibers;
Jacquard is a dense combined relief material with a pattern;
Scotchgard is an upholstery fabric impregnated with a water- and grease-resistant composition;
Flock - or "Anti-claw" - upholstery that can withstand the claws and teeth of pets;
Velor is a fleecy dense material;
Alcantara, microfiber and other high-tech synthetic upholstery materials that provide increased wear resistance.

Chenille - spirally twisted fibers with woven fibers

Interesting! Upholstery fabrics are often treated with special Teflon compounds to provide additional strength and water resistance. Not only will dirt and dust not stick to a chair upholstered with such material, it will also repel grease and water.

Upholstery fabrics are often treated with special Teflon compounds.

It is no longer necessary to choose between durable synthetics and safe natural fabric. Modern textile industry offers a myriad of abundance of most types of upholstery materials, which combine all the characteristics required for furniture, from durability and aesthetic appearance to hypoallergenicity and resistance to stains.

How to choose fabric colors for chair upholstery

Some of the nuances of upholstery replacement work include what pattern and texture of fabric is supposed to be used.

Plain fabric does not raise any questions, and reupholstering a chair with fabric of a single uniform color is an elementary task. The work will require 1-2 meters of fabric.

Plain fabric does not raise any questions

Fabric with a pattern, such as checkered or striped, will require a more responsible approach. The required footage of such fabric is 2-3 meters, since you will need to adapt to the pattern.

Working with patterned material involves trying it on convex areas of the seat, and preliminary visualization of how the pattern will be deformed due to the variety of shapes and thicknesses of chair seats.

Working with patterned material involves trying it on the convex areas of the seat

In addition, if a check is chosen as a pattern, you need to decide what is more beautiful - to apply the upholstery fabric evenly (line to line) or diagonally (diamonds). The same applies to stripes, photo prints, abstractions, imitation skins, floral and rapport (repeating) patterns, for example, jacquard fabrics.

It’s worth checking in advance how the pattern will roughly look.

It’s worth checking how the pattern will roughly look in advance, so that when finished, the work done doesn’t look like it was done hastily.

Procedure for replacing chair upholstery

The case in question involves replacing the upholstery of a chair seat. Some chairs are also equipped with a backrest and armrests - then the following simple steps will need to be repeated with the rest constituent elements chair.

Some chairs are also equipped with a backrest

Action 1. Removing the seat. Using a Phillips or flathead screwdriver, unscrew all the existing screws that secure the seat cushion to the chair frame.

Step 2: Loosen staples. To remove old upholstery, place a flat-head screwdriver under each bracket and twist the corners of the screwdriver up and down to loosen the bends of the fasteners.

Step 3: Remove staples. Carefully remove each staple with pliers. Over time, they can dry out and fall into pieces, so this step should be performed with the utmost care and attention.

Step 4: Replace batting. If the soft part of the stool has not suffered from time, then this stage can be skipped with a clear conscience. If there is nothing left of the batting or foam rubber under the upholstery, or it is pretty worn out, then it needs to be replaced. You can buy batting at fabric stores (it is sold in rolls). Cut a piece of batting to the shape of the seat and glue it to it using a heat gun.

Step 5: Cut out a suitable piece of upholstery fabric. Place the seat with the glued batting upside down on the front side of the upholstery material laid out on a flat surface. Having marked a 5 cm indentation from the edge of the seat for the hem allowance for the edge of the fabric with chalk, a piece of soap, a pencil, or just “by eye”, cut a piece of fabric of the desired size.

Action 6. Refining the pattern. Double-check the position of the pattern after cutting the pattern. To prevent the pattern from moving, you can attach the fabric to the batting with pins.

Step 7. Securing the fabric with a stapler. To ensure that the upholstery material lays down without folds, stretch it as much as possible so that there is no sagging anywhere, and secure the fabric with a stapler. You need to maintain a distance of about 1-2 cm between paper clips.

Action 8. Fabric lining. It is this step that takes the product from the “made it yourself” category to the “pro” category. To disguise uneven edges of upholstery and staples under the chair, use black upholstery fabric.

On laid out on a flat surface facing material black, place the seat face up, and cut out an even piece along the contour, without allowance. The lining should not protrude beyond the edges of the chair.

Step 9. Fixing the black fabric. Using the same stapler, attach the cladding to back side chair seats. Make sure that the staples run tightly in a row one after another, along a single line.

Voila! The savings are obvious. Now the chairs look like new and are pleasing to the eye. You can admire the options for covering chairs with your own hands in the photo.

The list of steps for those home craftsmen who are looking for information on how to cover a stool or other types of seating furniture on their own is practically no different. Before upholstering a chair with fabric with your own hands, familiarize yourself with how this can be done by looking through the extensive photo archive.

The company "Obivka03" offers inexpensive repair upholstered furniture: chairs, stools, etc. Reupholstery of chairs in Moscow - affordable way renovation of the interior and restoration of the aesthetic qualities of furniture. Our craftsmen replace the upholstery, filling, and, if necessary, carry out structural repairs - they do everything to ensure that the furniture fits harmoniously into the interior and can be fully used again.

Prices for reupholstering and repairing chairs

Price
Chair reupholstery
from 300 rub.
Gluing a chair
from 200 rub.
Upholstery of a chair with a soft back
from 400 rub.

Leave a request and receive a free appraiser visit

Chair reupholstery services at home

Reupholstering chairs at home is a popular service from our company. Without wasting time on removal and delivery, in front of the customer, we reupholster all types of chairs, such as:

kitchen;
workers;
office;
chairs for conference rooms.

Such furniture wears out most quickly, losing its attractive appearance: owners and guests sit on chairs at home, workers spend at least 8 hours a day on office models. Chairs serve as a substitute for stepladders - people stand on them to get something and change a light bulb. Therefore, the upholstery quickly deteriorates and tears, requiring the chairs to be reupholstered. We offer a full range of services to return furniture to its original condition.

Our experienced professionals perform the following work:

selection and calculation of materials;
removal and delivery of furniture;
upholstery replacement;
replacement of filler;
renovation work, not related to reupholstery (gluing, replacement of legs, armrests, seat bases, etc.).

If you need chairs reupholstered at home inexpensively, feel free to contact our company. The cost of services is most favorable for private clients and organizations. We are for transparent pricing: the final price depends on the type of furniture and the chosen material, the complexity and urgency of the work, and the availability of additional services. We guarantee an individual calculation and offer a preliminary estimate using a photo - via Viber or WhatsApp. A free home visit by a technician is also available.

Advantages of chair reupholstery in our company

Our company specializes in upholstery replacement, repair and restoration of upholstered furniture for 10 years. We have our own workshop, equipped with modern machines and tools for prompt replacement of upholstery fabrics, wooden elements structures, fittings, etc. Working directly with manufacturers and suppliers of furniture fabrics, we offer over 4,500 types of materials according to minimum price and the opportunity to purchase exclusive custom upholstery.

Furniture restoration includes updating the frame, replacing upholstery, decorating and allows you to restore items that have become unusable. , which have retained a strong frame. Upholstery with fabric will restore the aesthetic appearance and fit the furniture into color scheme when updating the interior of a room. Before you reupholster a chair with your own hands, you will need to prepare tools and materials, draw up patterns for elements, etc.

Required Tools

Reupholstering chairs requires restoration tools. The set includes screwdrivers, pliers, keys for bolts, a furniture stapler, sheets sandpaper, brushes, scissors. You will also need: an anti-stapler for removing poor quality fastenings(staples), PVA glue, hammer, tape measure or measuring tape, sewing machine, ruler, pencil and chalk. To create patterns you will need sheets of cardboard.

To restore furniture, you need appropriate padding. It is recommended to cover the chair with your own hands using padding made of padding polyester, batting or sheet foam rubber with a density of 30-50 kg/m³. Polyurethane compositions are not recommended.

The reupholstering process: step-by-step instructions

Before you reupholster a chair with your own hands, you need products. You will need to clean the old furniture upholstery materials, sand the surfaces, remove irregularities. If necessary, the chair can be painted a different color or coated with translucent varnish. You will need to prepare the fabric, cut out the elements, line the surfaces of the chair parts (back and seat) with foam rubber, then reupholster them.

Preparing fabric and foam

Before calculating the amount of fabric, you need to measure the dimensions of the chair. The upholstery fabric must match the size of the frames of the back and seat. Seam allowances of 10 cm are required. To create patterns for finishing elements, you can use old fabric parts of the chair.

Furniture fabrics are produced in widths of 130-140 cm. Therefore, from one width of fabric you can cut out elements for upholstering 2 chairs. If there are patterns on the fabric, it is necessary to arrange the pattern so that all the furniture in the set looks harmonious.

The old upholstered chair base can be saved. But if the quality does not meet the requirements, the filler will need to be replaced. A thin layer of glue must be applied to the wooden seat, then a layer of foam rubber is laid out. The material must be pressed and allowed to dry, it will take about 10-15 minutes.

Foam rubber blanks can be made in advance, taking into account the size of the elements. It is allowed to stick the material to parts of the chair and then trim off the excess fabric.

A layer of thin synthetic padding is laid on top of the foam rubber. The size of the material should be slightly larger than the base so that you can freely wrap the frame on top.

Seat reupholstery

Before reupholstering the seat with fabric, it is necessary to check the integrity of the frame. It is necessary to tighten weak connections and glue cracks. The parts are tightened with clamps and left for several hours.

Then the rough upholstery is done. It is necessary to stretch the fabric over layers of foam rubber and padding polyester. It is necessary to carefully staple the edges of the rough upholstery. If the fabric becomes more stretched during the decorating process, you will need to remove the staple using a thin screwdriver. After adjusting the canvas along the frame, the material must be secured again using a stapler.

What do you do with old furniture?