Scavenger Chic

Upholstered Arm Chair

• By Joan
• October 11, 2018
• 14 Comments

I got this chair from an online auction but it’s been sitting around since January waiting for me to get up the nerve to tackle it.  The part I was most dreading is taking out all the staples.  Well I’m ready…gather my staple removal tools, line up a good movie and just do it.

I have upholstered a french chair before but this is my first with padded sides.  I did have to do a little research,  and watch a few videos so I could figure out where to begin.  There must be a logical order.  

What I did find out is that everybody has their own technique and I’ve used quite a few. Most of the DIY upholstered chairs did not have padding on the sides so I was happy to find this post from HGTV and Miss Mustard Seed. 

Step one is removing all the old fabric, padding and staples.  Judging by all the old  staple  holes this chair has been covered and recovered multiple times .  There were a couple places where I’m not sure it could take even one more recovering so I’m keeping my fabric as neutral as possible.

I have a tendency to get tired of bold prints after a couple years so I don’t want to be reupholstering, I’d rather just change out a pillow.

The current fabric on this chair is not a upholstery fabric, it’s just a thin cotton keeping all the innards intact. Somebody had already ripped off the blue outer fabric.

The padding was actually kind of crunchy and not in a soft cushy kind of way. I believe this is horsehair.  Does anyone know if horsehair padding is actually  made with real horsehair?

If you do not like to take out staples do not attempt this project.  Warning!  Warning!  All of the staples will have to go.

It does help to have a stapler remover, a flathead screwdriver and needle nosed pliers.

While dismantling your chair try to notice where each of the pieces are stapled.  If you have any doubts take pictures and save any fabric intact if you can.

Those discarded fabric pieces will serve as rough pattern pieces for your new fabric.

See what I mean about staples past and present?  

After thousands of staples and tacks I was finally down to the springs.

The springs were sewn to the original webbing.  On this chair there was an extra layer of webbing.

From this website.  I found that I could add additional webbing to the existing webbing to ‘lift’ the springs up. I didn’t even know that was a thing but I was all for not having to replace all the webbing and springs.

I did, however, remove the  outer layer of webbing to move it over to make room for one more piece and to tighten it up.

There is a web stretching tool but if you don’t have one, weave and pull the webbing as tight as possible and staple in place.

On the ends of the webbing turn over and staple again.

Before I decided to keep my springs I viewed this video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFWjBx4Zc8Q  . Anyway, once I viewed the video I had absolutely no desire to take my springs off and restring.  I did add strings where the old strings had broken and vacuumed all the dirt that had found its way to the bottom of the chair.

That video will also show you how to use the webbing tool if you’re interested.  

I’m using the burlap I took off the springs as a pattern for a new piece of burlap.

Staple the burlap in place.

You may notice that I also painted the chair with white chalk paint before upholstering.

Along the front and sides cut pieces of  edge roll and staple in place.  I purchased mine at Joanns where you can buy it by the yard.

The edge roll softens the  wood edge of the chair.

A layer of cotton batting does the same for the hard edges of the springs.

Right now I’m switching over to the back of the seat because the back will have to be upholstered before the seat.

Cut fabric larger than your pattern to give yourself some seam allowance. About an inch should be enough but it’s best to err on the larger side.

I’m using drop cloth canvas for my fabric.  I would not use this fabric again,  while it was exactly the color I wanted, the ends frayed far more than I would have liked.

Whatever you use, if your fabric is wrinkled, iron before attaching.

If at all possible, use a Pneumatic Staple Gun it will make stapling so much easier.

 This will be the back of the chair but it’s stapled from the front.  All those staples prevent the fabric from puckering.

Add a layer of 1 inch foam to the back.

Cut a piece of fabric for the front of the back making sure its long enough to pull through to the back at the bottom of the chair.

 I’m just tacking it in place which will hold it straight and hold the foam in place.  That bottom staple is only temporary and will have to be pulled back out.

Like you did for the back, staple all around the sides and top of the chair  but leave the bottom free.

Trim around the edges leaving just enough so that it can be covered with trim.

Cut a piece of 2 inch foam slightly wider than the seat so you don’t feel any wood edges. Trim off the corners of the foam for a softer edge. Cover with a  layer of quilt batting.

Now is the time to sit on your chair.  See if it needs more cotton padding, fill in gaps and holes.

Cut the fabric for the chair seat and staple in place.

The chair seat gets stapled in place  first then you can pull the back of the chair down and finish stapling the back.

Now for the inside of the chair sides.  Two of these sides are stapled from the inside of the chair…

…and the other two sides are pulled through and stapled from the outside of the chair.

Cut one inch foam to fit inside your chair side.

Cover the foam with a another layer of quilt batting to soften the foam edges.

Another layer of fabric covers up all the foam and batting.  Staple and trim.

Hot glue trim to all the rough edges.  This is 1/2″ French Gimp Braid, you can find it at craft and fabric stores as well as Amazon.

If you need to take the trim off for any reason, a hair dryer gets hot enough to loosen up the glue.

I never did take off the armrests but just covered them with one more piece of quilt batting.

For the armrests, instead of trimming the fabric, I folded under the edges then stapled.

Armrests trimmed to cover all the staples.

My last piece!  Cut a piece of dust cover fabric to hide all the webbing and ugly undersides.  

Normally there would be a little more room to staple, but that extra layer of webbing puts me at the very edge.

My first chair with side pieces.  I had a few errors that I had to redo but it’s all a learning experience.  

OK, did I talk you in or out of tackling this project?

Stay inspired.

Shared at  Metamorphosis Monday,