| While wondering down your city
block, you noticed that your neighbor put out a drop-in
chair that is just perfect. It’s antique, it’s
intricate, and it’s beautiful. But, the fabric on
the seat of it has an awful design that nearly makes your
stomach turn. Okay, so it’s almost perfect. What to
do?
You could just keep walking, leaving the lovely chair on
the curb for the next passerby to notice. Or, you could
close your eyes for a moment and imagine the potential.
What if the wood was stained a slightly lighter color? What
if instead of that horrible shade of putrid green, the fabric
was a gorgeous mauve? Never fear – where there’s
potential, there’s a way!
Having a professional reupholster
your chair for you would be the most time-efficient
option for you, but it can also get expensive. Ordinarily,
you’ll have to fork over anywhere from $250 to $350
for one chair to be reupholstered. Spending so much cash
defeats the purpose of the chair being a great curbside
find. So, as an alternative, you could always reupholster
it yourself.
Many people think that reupholstering
will be hard and time consuming, and this is partially true.
Reupholstering is a time consuming process. However, it’s
not difficult, and if you’re really into it, it can
be a really fun DIY project.
The first thing you’ll want to do is clean the furniture
as best you can. Since it’s antique, there could be
a lot of dust lying around.
Next, you’ll want to remove the chair seat. You can
do this by using a screwdriver to unscrew the chair seat.
Remove it gently and put the screws somewhere safe so that
you don’t lose them.
Now that you have the chair seat loose, turn it over so
that you can see the bottom of it. There should be foam
underneath and there are likely nails or staples fastening
it all together. Remove the nails or staples and discard
them – you’ll be adding new ones later, so no
need to save the old ones.
Separate the foam and seat cover. You can throw the seat
cover away – that’s what you’re replacing.
If the foam is in good shape, go ahead and reuse it. If
it’s not, throw it away and replace the foam. You
should especially replace foam if there are any signs of
mold or if it smells musty.
Turn your new fabric over so that the backside is facing
up. With a marker, mark the halfway mark on the fabric.
Now, lay your cushion over the fabric and trace around it
so that you know where to cut for the reupholster. It’s
important that you leave at least three inches on extra
fabric the outside to use to fasten the fabric to the cushion.
Staple your foam to back to the seat. Now, take your cushion
and lay it down on the cut fabric. Take care to wrap the
fabric around the chair seat and use a stapler to fasten
it in place. Staples should be no more than an inch apart,
and be sure to constantly check that the fabric is being
wrapped in a way that is tight and smooth.
With your fabric fastened, screw the seat back together
with the screws you saved from the beginning of the process.
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