DIY upholstery of chairs. Is it difficult? How to restore an old chair: advice from experienced furniture makers and a kaleidoscope of ideas

This article will describe and demonstrate how to replace the upholstery of a chair at home without much difficulty, and in another way - to “re-upholster” the chair.

And so, to begin with, the question arose of changing the color of the chairs, tk. a new sofa was ordered white and the chairs no longer fit because of their color. Further, it was decided to use the same material as on the sofa - Eco leather.

For reference:For re-covering furniture, incl. chairs use various materials... These can be leather (a more durable material, but the cost is appropriate), textiles, leatherette and a novelty - eco-leather (as explained, better than leatherette because of technical characteristics and a longer period of operation), perhaps there are also other materials. It can also be noted that eco-leather is divided into various classes: from 1 to 10, it seems, i.e. the higher the class, the more durable it will serve on furniture. As almost all sellers suggested to us, for re-covering furniture, it is necessary to take at least grade 5, in extreme cases grade 4 eco-leather.

Whole replacement process upholstery material on chairs can be divided into several stages:

1. Purchase of material,

2. Cutting to the required dimensions,

3. Removing old material from the chair,

4. Pulling on new (eco-leather),

5. Assembling the chair.

Further on the photo you can see all the stages. By the way, I almost forgot to tell you about necessary tool... You will need very little of it, namely: scissors or a knife, tape measure, furniture stapler, screwdriver or screwdriver. Probably that's all.

It took about 2.5 - 3 hours to rewire 4 chairs, taking into account the fact that at this time the process of cutting eco-leather was taken into account, 2 breaks of 10-15 minutes. On average, a chair took 30 minutes, the most long time it took to separate old stuffsince staples were clogged well, just the sea.

By the way, it took 1.54 sq.m. to replace the old material of the chairs. eco-leather, i.e. a piece of 110 cm by 140 cm was purchased and that remained, since on one chair I cut a square measuring 55 by 55 centimeters. The cost of the selected material was 13 euros per running meter, there are also cheaper and of course more expensive.

Successful rework!

Almost every family has old furniture that they inherited, but this furniture does not always look acceptable. The upholstery is easy to replace. Then the beloved grandmother's chairs and armchairs will get a second life and sparkle with new colors.

Instead of buying new chairs, you can make the old ones upholstered: replace the worn seats with new ones, saving money.

For this you will need:

• thick tape;
• lining fabric;
• upholstery fabric;
• filler (batting, sintepon, coconut fiber);
• furniture foam rubber;
• construction stapler;
• hammer and nails.

Fitting chairs yourself is not so difficult if you follow the technology and know the assembly sequence. It happens when not only the casing, but also the inner contents require replacement. The first step is to remove the seat, pull out the old nails with a nailer, remove the upholstery and filler. You should only have the wooden seat frame left.

The main tool for upholstery is a furniture stapler.

Now you need to attach a thick tape along the bottom (in the form of a lattice), which is used to upholster furniture. Nail one end of the tape with 3 nails, wind the other end on wooden block and stretch. On the opposite side, fasten the tape with nails, then cut it off, bend the end and secure with a stapler. The distance between the strips should be about 5 cm. On the seat of the chair, 2-3 ribbons are usually nailed on each side, while intertwining them in the form of a lattice. Instead of nails, you can use a stapler - in this case, the staples are arranged in 2 rows, at a short distance from each other. For this purpose, it is better to take staples of 8 mm.

After that, take the lining fabric and fix it with a stapler around the entire perimeter wooden frame... Next, a layer of filler is laid. It can be batting, coconut fiber or synthetic winterizer. After that, a piece of foam rubber is cut off so that it is 2-3 cm larger than the seat. First, it is fixed with brackets in the center of each side, then the sides are shot. The corners are made last, while the ends are collected in small folds. During work, you need to make sure that the foam rubber does not warp, otherwise the upholstery will turn out to be uneven and take on a sloppy look.

To overtighten the chair, you must first strengthen the frame and then remove the jet of upholstery fabric.

It remains only to cover the seat with a cloth. Lay the fabric on the table, lay the seat on top (with the foam down), shoot 3 staples in the center of each side. Try to stretch the fabric evenly so that you do not have distortions, otherwise this will affect the appearance of the product. Lay beautiful folds at the corners, shoot them with a stapler, cut off all unnecessary. Fold in the ends and secure them in the same way, and then place the seat on the chair.

It is more difficult to fit the seats of chairs with your own hands if there are springs in the upholstery. Many furniture craftsmen do not recommend replacing them with less durable foam rubber. The first step is to carefully parse the contents. Typically, the springs are already linked together. Then you just have to check the bunch for strength. If some of the threads are rubbed over time, then they need to be replaced. After you have nailed the ribbons and lining, place a bunch of springs on it, sewing each one from the bottom (with several stitches on all sides). Fasten a thick lining fabric over the structure and sew the springs to it in the same way. This is followed by a layer of wadding or padding polyester, after which the seat is upholstered with a cloth and set on a chair.

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Upholstered chair with hard seat

For this you will need:

• thick furniture foam rubber;
• dense fabric;
• construction stapler;
• braid;
• glue gun.

Fitting a chair with a hard seat is quite simple: even a person who has nothing to do with furniture can easily handle it. First you need to cut the foam rubber, it must completely repeat the dimensions of the seat. There is no need to cut the fabric, as it is much easier to work with a cut that is 15-20 cm larger than the intended one.

The foam is placed on the chair seat and covered with a cloth. First, shoot (along the side) each side in the center, then on the sides. After that, the corners are made out: the fabric is collected in small folds and fixed with staples. It is important to make sure that the staples are well aligned. Next, the fabric is cut, stepping back from the attachment by about 5-7 mm.

It remains only to glue the braid that will hide the staples. The easiest way to do this is with glue gun - although the work is easy, it requires maximum attention and accuracy. The upholstery of the stool is done in the same way, but in this case, the upholstery fabric is not shot at the side, but from the back of the seat. Therefore, there is no need to decorate the seam with tape.

Even if you carefully monitor and take care of your furniture, one day there comes a moment of wear and tear when it loses its original appearance. There are many indicators that it is time to change something. The seat may be squeezed or a hole may form, but the most common is external damage to the upholstery. Over time, it gets dirty, deteriorates and becomes outdated, giving a chair or chair a very unpresentable look. However, do not rush to get rid of old furniture. After all, you can restore it. Padding chairs is not a very laborious process, but it will return them to their former beauty or even make them better. There are a lot of companies that are engaged in the restoration of any type of furniture. But if your chairs require the usual constriction, and do not need serious carpentry repairs or some other complex transformations, then you can safely do it yourself. Thus, you will be able to save money and subsequently enjoy the creation of your own hands.

Do-it-yourself upholstering of chairs will return them to their former beauty, or even make them better.

Preparatory work

By itself, the hauling implies that certain operations will be performed during which the soft elements of the furniture are replaced. The main condition is a good condition of the frame. Otherwise, a deep restoration will be required.

If various small parts, you can disassemble both the seat of the chair and its back, then replacing old or broken elements with new ones. It is better to immediately check if the wood is not affected, perhaps a grinder beetle has worked on it, then it will be almost impossible to restore the furniture.

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Materials and tools

In order not to be distracted from work, it is better to take care in advance of preparing all the tools and materials necessary for hauling:

1. Pre-measure the seats of the chairs you intend to restore. You need to add 15-20 cm to the resulting figure on each side. You will need such a margin for the subsequent hemming of the upholstery height. The fabric is better to choose from tapestries, flock, jacquard or chenille.
2. Select the appropriate padding for the upholstery of the chairs. Since the tightness of the seat is not the same as that of the pillows, fine filler will not work at all ( bulk materials or polyurethane balls). It is best to fill it with padding polyester, latex, batting or foam rubber sheet. To prevent the latter from dropping to the board itself, you need to take material with a density of 30-50 kg / m 3.
3. Prepare cardboard paper for patterns, ordinary PVA glue.
4. You will need a jackhammer with furniture nails or a furniture stapler with staples.
5. You will also need screwdrivers different types and pliers.
6. Prepare a chisel, cutter, and mallet.
7. You can't do without good sharp scissors, the usual centimeter for sewing.
8. Use chalk to mark up the material, a pencil and a ruler.

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Step-by-step hauling of chairs

Latex, batting, or foam rubber sheets are best suited as stuffing for a chair.

First, a certain dismantling operation is carried out. This must be done as carefully and carefully as possible so as not to damage anything, and then everything without unnecessary problems collect back.

Slowly remove the old nails or staples using pliers or a staple remover. You should also be careful with the cladding material, because it can be useful later as a pattern for new cladding. When you remove it, cut through the string that holds the burlap and filler. And to remove the spring elements, cut the twine that secures them. Then you will need to remove all unnecessary nails. Carefully stack the metal plates, nuts and screws so that you do not lose them and do not look for replacement later. Dilapidated upholstery can still come in handy, so don't rush to throw it away. It will serve you as a template. Simply place the old fabric on the wrong side of the new one and trace around the edge with chalk. So, you get a pattern for a brand new upholstery.

The backrest is dismantled in the same way as the seat. Now it is better to check the condition of your chairs. After all, why do double work? Seal the loose joints, glue and tighten the cracks in the wood with clamps, replace the unusable elements. You can varnish, paint everything. Otherwise, the hauling of chairs by itself will not give positive effect... Remove debris, filler residues and traces of glue from plywood base seat.

For a high-quality constriction, you need to make a template. To do this, you need to lay pieces of cardboard on the plywood seats of the chairs and trace them with a pencil. When the plywood is removed, take into account the allowances, it is worth adding 2-4 cm each in the drawings. Cut out the template using stationery sharp knife or scissors.

So, using a stencil, foam rubber is also cut out for filling. If you suddenly did not manage to use worn-out upholstery for a pattern (as described above), then the material can also be cut according to a cardboard template. To do this, trace it around the fabric with a pencil or chalk, taking into account 10 cm on each side for hem. Now you can cut. Keep track of the pattern on the fabric, because you will need a good supply of material. There are many nuances here. The picture should be in the center so that the chairs have a presentable look, all patterns and lines should be correctly positioned and correspond to each other. Mark up everything you did right away so you don't have to repeat it later.

If in the models of chairs there is not plywood inside, but a frame with weaving made of rubber or mesh, then you will need to check the condition of the wicker base.

It is better to discard unsuitable and worn-out material, and instead fix dense and wide rubber bands.

Now you can glue the foam over the seat. When the glue is completely dry, it is the turn of the upholstery fabric. It is placed seamy side up, and then covered with a seat with foam rubber facing it. The fabric that you have in stock should be folded in a circle onto the plywood.

At the end of the constriction, you need to tightly pull the material along the edge of the trim, at a distance of about 1-2 cm, shoot the fabric to the seat. Make sure that no large creases or weak spots appear between the fasteners. Use a hammer to hit any loose staples. Cut off excess fabric. If your chairs square shape, then you need to fold the folds and at the corners. This completes the hauling.

Time passes, and even good things wear out, lose their former luster and just break. But do not rush to send a shabby stool to the landfill, it can still become a stylish and functional piece of furniture. Stool restoration will take a lot of time and effort, but the result will exceed all expectations.

Before deciding how to restore old chair with your own hands, you need to take care of its stability. With prolonged use, furniture looses: the wood dries up, and glued spike joints cease to fulfill their function.

A stunning effect can be achieved simply by painting the chairs in different colors

Carpentry work

• First, disassemble the nodal connection. Be careful not to damage it. The thorn is swung and at the same time tapped with a hammer on the knot.
• The groove is cleaned of old glue and dust. It is convenient to do this with a chisel or a knife.
• Then the spike and socket are evenly and thinly coated with glue with a viscosity of 200.
• After the knot is collected and clamped in clamps. The product must be in the clamping device for at least three hours. Dispersion residues are removed with a damp cloth.

Important! If a bolted connection needs to be repaired, place metal or plastic washers under the nuts and tighten the nuts.

• If a wooden elements do not adhere to the eyes, you can increase the missing volume with a thin piece of wood. Use casein or skin glue. The adhesive is left pressed in for 8-10 hours in a warm room. Professional craftsmen use a belt tie, which allows you to achieve the desired gluing force.
• If a spike breaks, it is better to replace the defective part with a new one. The leg is processed with a hacksaw and the nest is cut out with a chisel to a depth of 50 mm. After the insert is cut out the right size and beat it with a hammer.

Council. Use a PVA dispersion, it is non-toxic and not prone to degradation. Epoxy glue "Master" or "EDP" is also suitable.

You can securely fix the legs with wooden scarves. You will also need studs with nuts and washers.

Removing the old coating

To get rid of the old coating, use sandpaper... It is not necessary to remove absolutely the entire top, it is important to create a smooth and flat surface... Do-it-yourself chair restorations won't feel overwhelming if you use a sander.

Council. The varnish can be removed with technical acetone. They moisten a napkin with it and wipe the product well. At the same time, it remains natural color wood.

Speed \u200b\u200bup the process of removing the old layer sander

Finishing: painting and varnishing

Since the wood absorbs liquid well enough, the surface must be primed before finishing, this will reduce the consumption of material. A colorless primer is suitable if the wood will only be varnished. Otherwise, choose a white primer. Chairs in white or black look great with contrasting upholstery.

Important! Put on a respirator and gloves before work.

• Apply 1-2 coats of primer. When the stool is dry, rub over it with a fine-grained sandpaper.
• Now use a wax balm, it will give the surface a special shine. Then polish everything with a brush.
• Paint the chair twice. The second layer is applied to a dry surface.
• Thin layer apply a layer of varnish along the grain of the tree.

Council. Use water-based paint, it is easy to apply and dries quickly. You will also need a stencil if you want to decorate the chair with an original pattern.

Polishing and painting is best done on fresh air

Dismantling and hauling the seat

You will need: a furniture stapler, staples, a screwdriver with attachments, foam rubber 5 cm thick (or two pieces 2-3 cm thick), thick fabric for the backing and upholstery fabric for the top. The filling for the seats can be synthetic winterizer, batting, foam rubber.

• Remove the seat and upholstery first. Solid wooden base do not throw away.
• Turn the chair over and remove all fasteners that hold the seat. Remove the factory brackets.
• Pull out the frame with the spring. Free it of any remaining filler.
• Cut a rectangle out of dense fabric to fit the seat, cut out the upholstery with a margin. The allowance should be 6-8 cm.
• Place a thick fabric backing on the spring. Use a furniture stapler to attach the fabric to the frame.
• Lay a layer of filler on top. Optimum thickness for the seat - 4-5 cm.
• Then install the upholstery material, it is most convenient to do this with an assistant. The upholstery can be a special textile material, as well as linen and leather.

The fabric at the corners can be fixed in this way

Creative solutions for exclusive design

• First, the chair is painted with two different colors of paints, for example turquoise (1st layer) and white (2nd layer). Then the surface of the back and legs is carefully treated with a fine-grained sandpaper so that the "scuffed" effect appears. The color of the upholstery material must match the color of the painted part.
• To give the chairs a vintage flair, they are painted in cream, blue, pink colors... After that, the entire chair or only part of it is decorated with painting. Then separate details are selected with gold paint or craquelure varnish is applied to the entire surface. Small cracks will create an antique effect.

Also a curious vintage

• If you want to recreate the Empire style, choose a milky satin with a floral print. Cover the frame with "gold" paint.
• Make a chair cover, it will not only keep the furniture from getting dirty, but also change its design.

Sewing a cover will take a couple of hours of time, and a novice seamstress will be able to cope with such work

• The seat can be upholstered with 30 different colored leather belts. They are intertwined with each other according to the "basket" principle and are fixed from below with self-tapping screws.

Seat upholstery with belts

Patchwork - patchwork upholstery for a "bright" mood

Often there are things in the closet that have not been worn for a long time. An old shirt and frayed jeans will do just fine as raw materials for the upholstery of country chairs. If you find suitable shreds, you need to choose shades and cut out the constituent elements.

Tip: Do not use elastic materials. At first, choose simple, uncomplicated drawing schemes.

Bright accents will dilute strict monotony

We decorate a stool using decoupage technique

Want to update your kitchen low-cost way? Decoupage is able to make the most ordinary-looking furniture original and attractive. You will need napkins or fabric with a suitable pattern, leather appliques are also suitable.

On sale you can find special cards for decoupage

1. After sanding, the cracks are sealed with a putty, the product is primed and covered with a water emulsion.
2. Then they cut out a suitable picture from a napkin, smear the surface of the chair with glue and carefully apply the drawing. Moving from the center to the edges, smooth it out.
3. The absolutely dry surface is varnished.

You can decorate the seat, back or legs in this way. Decoupage is ideal for furniture in a nursery or kitchen

Perfect solution to transform an old stool

Video master class: renovating old furniture

An unstable chair irritates with its creak and carries a potential danger - at any moment it can fall apart under the weight of a person sitting on it. If you have experience, you can strengthen the structure, repaint the base and re-tighten the seat yourself. But if you don't own the secrets carpentry, it is worth contacting professionals who know how to restore an old chair, and therefore will carry out repairs efficiently and quickly.

Photos of chairs before and after the transformation

IN recent times in old Khrushchev houses and newfangled mansions, the fashion for the use of chair cushions has spread. Such a seasoned chair with a shabby seat is taken, a foam rubber square, trimmed with a rag and a ribbon, is laid on top of it.

Rags range from flowered calico to tapestry and velvet. The ribbon is needed to tie the pillow to the chair, so that the bottom of the sitting person would be extremely uncomfortable fidgeting on this structure. In principle, the idea is good, but, as sometimes happens, some housewives bring it to the point of absurdity.

One extreme is inviting guests to enter the dining room, where beautiful white satin upholstered chairs are covered with homegrown cushions. I would like to immediately take offense for my fifth point - well, of course, the owners are sorry for the satin beauty, but is it not so frank to hint that the priests of the guests are unworthy to sit on expensive furniture? Here is the recipe for the hostess pure psychological properties - to score on the high cost of satin seats, after all - are the chairs made for us, or are we needed to serve the chairs? You can, of course, spend your life protecting the cleanliness and originalness of your furniture, but it seems to me that there are more interesting things to do.

At the other extreme - beautiful, ruffled pads - the fruit of the hostess's efforts in the field of needlework - and cover the tattered ugliness of the chair upholstery. Accidentally falling pillow (as a result of that very fidgeting) - and it is clear that the house cat sharpened its claws on this particular piece of furniture. The owners' emotions are understandable - although there are more serious embarrassments. (So \u200b\u200bat one of the parties where I was, a guest - small child accidentally in the bedroom where he was sent to play, he found a beautiful box with a medicine that stimulates potency. That was "fun" ...). The thoughts of the invitees are also understandable - the guests in between times begin to check what is on their chairs under the pillow. "Princes and princesses" are found on pea-nails, some old allergies wake up. Is it necessary?

Meanwhile, for a reasonable mistress, it is quite simple change the chair upholstery yourself... You can, of course, contact special services or to private craftsmen, but for the sake of one chair, the hassle is not worth it. And with practice comes experience. One chair, another - and there you can get to the chair, and you can wipe the sofa too ...

The general procedure is very simple. Take off old skin, cut out a new one, pandorit with a stapler a new skin, and the new thing is ready. But let's take a closer look at all this.

Before leaving to the store for fabric, you need to thoroughly study how exactly the seat is arranged. In order not to get into a mess by buying less material than necessary, it is better to measure the seat, the height of the lining and see from below how much you need to add to the hem. In the most general case, you need to add 15-20 cm to the length-width of the seat, this will be enough with a margin (unless you, of course, have some exotic option).
A separate article can be devoted to the choice of upholstery material, but, to be honest, I'm not a big specialist in this. There is an abundance of furniture and upholstery fabrics in stores, I think you can choose not so much according to consumer characteristics, but according to the general impression, color, pattern, texture of the material. In the end, if you don't like it, you can redo it.
It is better to immediately buy a sheet of foam rubber of the required or desired thickness - most likely it will not work well.

Second trip to the store - for tools... For renovation works you will need a furniture or small construction stapler and a set of staples. The most important thing is to choose the brackets for the stapler that fit it! The stapler on the box usually has the size of the necessary staples written, this is exactly what you need to take, otherwise nothing good will come of it. If you don't have any other tools around the house, keep in mind that you may also need a screwdriver, small pliers, perhaps a hammer and pliers. There is nothing scary about these usually masculine gadgets. Moreover, there are many similar in functionality and appearance things are in a regular manicure set (they can also, of course, be used to repair a chair, but this is only with a photo for Internet sites of jokes and various surrents).

Now, taking a break from shopping, proceeding to disassembly... This business does not tolerate fuss and rush. Carefully and consistently, you need to remove all the nails, screws, brackets, fastening plates, etc., remembering how it was about everything. Old nails and brackets can be thrown away, but the fastening plates must be placed on a shelf, in a casket, in a memorable place - where they will not be lost, they will still come in handy. Having separated the actual seat from the chair, you can begin to disassemble the upholstery. It is better to do this over lined paper or polyethylene - the old seat is full of dust, and crumbling foam rubber can cause inconvenience (Anyway, what if someone lives there?).
The skin itself can be used to make a pattern, or, which is simpler and more logical, you can immediately cut out a new skin from it. After that, you can and should get rid of all the junk.

Now process of creation... We carefully lay out: a sheet of plywood as the basis of the seat, foam rubber as a backing, a new upholstery cut out. We fold a kind of "sandwich", not forgetting to make sure that the upholstery rolls up on the lower side of the seat evenly and does not slip. We arm ourselves with a stapler, and imagine ourselves as a sort of Mila Jovovich, fighting the forces of evil. Shot, more, more, one more ... It is better to first fully secure one edge of the upholstery, and then, by reasonably stretching the fabric, fasten the opposite one. Then deal with the other two parties. Finally, having defeated all available evil on one single seat, pause (no, I'm not talking about twix bars, not about that) and look at what happened. It should have been a new seat, separate from the chair itself.

We remember everything from the beginning - and we do all the same in reverse order. We put the seat on a chair, turn it over, fix the plates, hammer in nails, screw in the screws (each has its own). That's it, one more coup - and the chair is ready. If you do not suffer from fanaticism and do such work not for the sake of saving a couple of hundred rubles, but for your own pleasure and an unsurpassed result, then the price of the issue is the cost of a stapler and staples (it will pay off if you take a sofa after the chair) plus the cost of new upholstery and backing (very variable - from economy prices to super-elite). The time spent is comparable to that which would be spent on finding a master and monitoring his work. The result is a new chair that doesn't need any additional pillows.