Oh my gosh, you guys. Did you read the title of this post? It’s an epic day here at The Chronicles of Home – I have completed, and now published, my very first video tutorial! You can actually WATCH me reupholster a dining room chair seat.
It is a very exciting video.
Actually, it’s not, but if you’re the kind of person who likes to watch how something is done, then I hope this will be helpful.
You can also hear what I sound like, Yankee-ish accent and all.
If you prefer the photo and text kind of tutorial, I actually have one for you on how to reupholster dining room chairs HERE.
A quick run-down of the materials you need to do this job:
- fabric (mine is Malta Mulberry by Lacefield Designs)
- sharp scissors
- a staple gun (I prefer a pneumatic one with an air compressor but an electric one works fine too)
- screwdriver or allen wrench
- tack puller
The absolute right way to do this job is to use the tack puller to help you remove the original fabric, and then replace the black cambric cloth under the chair seat once you’ve got the new fabric on (details on this in my original tutorial).
I rarely do this but I decided to go right over my old fabric for this job. The original fabric wasn’t old or stinky and it was nice and smooth so it was a fine base for my new fabric. This also let me bang out eight chairs in an afternoon, and it’s hard to resist that kind of turnaround time!
I’ve already shown you the finished chairs in my dining room “reveal” back in November, and, wow, did this reupholstery job have big impact. I am still utterly in love with the fabric (Malta Mulberry by Lacefield Designs). It’s such a fun punch of color and I really adore the pattern.
Sooooo…here you go! Be kind.
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You are so pretty and this video is great! I can’t believe you were sitting on this for months before posting!! More please! ;)
It takes me months lately to get all the pieces together for a post like this! And I think you’re pretty!
Great video and tips!! :)
Thanks! Was fun figuring out the video stuff! Now for lighting and sound and… :)
SO great! Video is on my hit list also… always hard to know where to start! This was perfect!
Thanks, Charlotte! Definitely just a start. But it was fun!
You are so good at this video thing, I’m scared to do one ;)
I’m such a beginner! But thanks :)
Thanks for the video tutorial. It looks so simple! I am about to attempt my very first upholstery project and the timing on this couldn’t have been more perfect! What kind of staple gun do you use?
Oh good, I’m so glad! I use an upholstery nailer made by Spotnails. Here’s a post I wrote with links to a lot of the tools I use:
https://www.thechroniclesofhome.com/2014/10/essentials-for-diy-upholstery.html?m=1
Good luck!
i am so impressed!!!! but crap the stapler scared me when it blasted! :) woke me up!
Haha!! I totally noticed how loud it was in the video but I’m not savvy enough to know how to adjust sound levels at different points :)
great tutorial, what are you using for a stapler? I need to buy a new one and want a good quality one,thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Wendy!
Jen you are just too cute for words! Fabulous video – i hope you are sending that video in to be the next HGTV star :) You make reupholstering dining chairs look so easy that I need to add this to my project list. But my chairs have piping around the edges… how would I do that??
That is so sweet, Lo, thanks :) I actually did chairs with piping for clients a couple years ago – I link to that post above and show how to do it there! Just another step but not hard! Assuming it’s that kind of piping…
Aaaaah the pleating as you staple is the key!! Ive been doing it all wrong this whole time. Also love that you start in the corner. Youre such a cutie Jen. I hope this wont be the last vid you post. I could watch you for hours. And not is a creepy stalker way.
How much fabric did you have to buy for eight chairs?
About four yards but how much you need depends on the size of your chair seats so be sure to measure and determine how much you need for each chair!