It’s officially spring….and you know what that means — it’s time to start doing some cleaning and freshening things up. I had a family friend who was having a bunch of guests over not too long, and she wanted to give her kitchen chairs a face lift. So, we grabbed some upholstery fabric (Mood Fabrics has tons of it) that could stand up to heavy traffic and gave them the boost she needed. This task is easier than it looks and only takes a couple hours on a lazy Saturday. In the long run it will save you money and is noticeable right away — you’ll be glad you did it!
SUPPLIES: upholstery, scissors, screw driver (phillips and flathead), heavy duty stapler and staples, and wood round and foam (that should come inside your chair if you are just recovering them).
HOW-TO:
1. Go ahead and flip your chair over and remove the screw that is attaching your metal frame to the actual seat.
2. Carefully remove the bottom staple covers from each of the chairs. I say “carefully,” because you are going to reuse these.
3. Right on the seam, take your scissors and cut off the old upholstery. While you’re on this step….take that flathead screwdriver and remove all the old staples and old upholstery.
4. Now that you’ve cut off all your old covers, take one and use it as the pattern for your new ones. Lay one out flat, add 4 inches all the way around as a “seam allowance,” and trace it out.
5. Go ahead and cut out the oversized circles you’ve now created.
6. Now it’s time to grab your wood rounds and cushion, and drape your new fabric around them. Pull the fabric taut and start stapling polar points. (Note: I suggest manipulating the fabric and playing with it as you work your way around so you can see how it will lay on the seams). After that, go ahead and staple back on the black staple covers from Step #2..
7. The last step is to screw back on the metal frames.
Brandhyze Stanley is the chief voice of the award winning blog, Frugal-nomics.com; a platform designed to share with women how to live and look fabulous on a dime. A DIY girl at heart—Brandhyze has been featured on The View, The Early Show, The Today Show, InStyle Magazine, Essence Magazine, and MTVStyle. A Wilhelmina Model for over a decade, with a Business Degree from Loyola University Chicago, Brandhyze provides DIY content to the popular How-To Site, eHow; and has been a contributor for the Huffington Post, Yahoo Finance, Super Money, Good Housekeeping, and Newsday Westchester, to name a few. Brandhyze is a huge thrifter and a lover of all good deals, follow her on Twitter @MyFrugalnomics and on Facebook at Facebook.com/Frugalnomics.
