Chair makeover

With all the renovations happening around the house (I will add some posts about that later), the small things now are starting to bother me. Like the fact that most of the furniture is browny/neutral and the dining chairs are bright blue.  Not only do they stand out, but even though the chairs themselves are in quite good condition, with little sticky fingers around (and the adults aren't much better), there are stains and wear and tear on the fabric.

So I was at Spotlight recently and noticed that there was some brown furnishing fabric in the sales pile and amazingly the fabric I wanted was only $4 per metre!  That never happens to me!!!

I took that as a sign and bought 2 metres for the six chairs.  When I got home I mapped out how much I would need per chair and with the fabric width I realised I could be pretty generous. I also thought - why not document this process in case anyone else wanted to do it.

Materials
- fabric (furnishing fabric is best)
- chairs
- screwdriver
- staple gun
- good scissors

Method
1. Grab your chair, turn it upside down and remove the padded cushion with a screwdriver.  (I would suss this out first before you decide to change the covers because if this isn't easy to do I would think carefully about going any further).

2. Lay out your fabric, place the cushion on top and cut a square of fabric that will be big enough to cover the cushion. (I left the old fabric on, mainly because although it was a little scabby it wasn't really damaged or in terrible condition.  I think this made the whole process a lot quicker too).

3. Get out your staple gun and go for gold!  (I should say, be careful - especially if you have an electric gun, but even with the old fashioned type - they can be dangerous!).  As for technique… You do need to pull it so that it is reasonably tight - but not too stretched.  You will probably have to put in a few pleats so that it sits nicely (example of pleats below).

4. Once the fabric is nice and securely stapled - turn the seat over to make sure it looks ok.  If you are happy with it, cut off the excess fabric.  This makes sure it will not be too lumpy when you secure it back on to the frame.

5. Last step is to secure the seat cushion back onto the frame.  You might notice in the picture above that I have made a small hole just under one of the staples.  This is where the screw came out and I made the hole in the furnishing fabric because it is quite thick and I wanted the screw to go back in easily.

So there you go!  Quite easy really - and actually also fun. 

I know it's quite a simple tutorial, but if you want to pin it, I have had a go at doing a Pinterest tutorial type photo below.