People always ask me when my love for DIY-ing began.
I think they are always surprised when I tell them I have always been the do-it-yourself kind of person and that my messy projects began as a small child.
There was the time I gave all the neighbor girls makeovers with my little crafting scissors, and the time I used a hand saw to cut apart an antique desk my parents got as a wedding present.
Or that time I spray painted a piece of furniture neon pink inside my bedroom that had just gotten new carpet installed in it.
Or that time I decoupaged old music sheets to an entire wall in my bedroom, or the times I spilled oil based paint all over my parents driveway in an awful attempt to keep the paint (for once) off of my bedroom floor.
Creativity is messy.
Thankfully my relationship with my parents wasn’t messy after all of my uncontainable DIY projects.
So to sum it up, I have had a lot of project practice in my 30 years of living.
A lot of DIY fails and some triumphs that end up fueling more impromptu DIY decisions.
My dining room chairs were no exception.
After a few weeks of dragging three annoyed children into our near by fabric store, I caved to their whining and my indecisiveness and bought some material that I didn’t adore.
(Note to self: never settle.)
I cant even help it, but my project-loving-creative-mind won’t settle unless it is completely satisfied.
Settling means I will end up doing twice the work, and dragging those poor whining children back into the store — even if they cry from the first site of the flashing fabric store sign….
The fabric I had settled with proved NOT to be compatible with three children anyways.
So, I did what any impatient DIY-er would do, and I simply covered over my first choice fabric covered seats with a much better second choice fabric.
I recovered my first chair when I was 13 years old and I was immediately hooked by how easy it was to recreate a piece of furniture with a few minutes and a few necessary items.
If you have never done a recovering project before, here is what you will need:
- Stapler. (You can use the simple hand variety or pay the approx. $25.00 for an electric one.)
- Staples that fit your stapler. (Simply ask a salesperson at your local hardware store.)
- Scissors
- Fabric
- Three feet of open floor space
(free of pet hair)
First you need to remove the seat of your chair from the base.
Usually they are simply attached with three or fours screws. Put your screws in a safe place, a container of some sorts and move on to dismantling the seat and cutting a piece of fabric that leaves plenty of room to wrap around the sides of your chair.
Staple the fabric to the underneath side of your seat cushion while pulling taunt.
And that is it!
Secure the seat back on with the screws you had removed. Feel free to use the same holes that were previously there. Why not? Keep it simple!
Then, literally, sit back and enjoy your beautiful newly reupholstered chair!
My children behaved long enough to let me select this black and white graphic outdoor material that was on sale for $10 a meter. I only needed two meters to cover four chairs; and I was actually left with a lot of excess fabric for another potential project. Make sure to measure ALL the way around your chairs when selecting your fabric. You need enough to wrap around your cushions sides. 🙂
If you have a busy family you might consider using outdoor fabric too. I love using out door material on dining room chairs, and have used it on our last dining room set. I cold literally kiss it every morning when I wipe off jam and bacon finger prints.
I adore it for its all around durability; the way it stands up to little kid spills and the abuse it will take from uber sticky fingers; it makes it worth so much more to this happy Mama!
This is what the little chair looked like before.
It had a tan ticking fabric seat and its legs and spindles had a tinge of blue to them.
After a quick spray of black and a little reupholstering…
It now has a whole new look!
I’m so happy with our new dining room chairs. 🙂
The new chairs have a shape that brings a hint of rustic to our home and yet the graphic pattern on the padded seat looks unexpected and playful.
This project was pretty simple and didn’t take too long to finish either. You could totally pull this reupholstering project off in an evening while watching your favorite television show. I promise. 😉
Now that this project and post is done though, I suddenly have this nagging feeling to thank my gracious parents for letting me practice my DIY fails skills in their home for all those years.
Thankfully there is no pink spray painted carpet in my home….yet…..
marty (A Stroll Thru Life)
July 11, 2013 at 1:42 pmLove your black and white fabric and the chairs look amazing. So fresh and chic. Hugs, marty
Tanya Runkle
July 11, 2013 at 5:27 pmBethany your chairs turned out GREAT!!
xo, Tanya
bethanygier
July 13, 2013 at 6:51 pmThank you Tanya and Marty! Im glad you like them! They have endured some spills all ready and clean up so nicely! Im pretty much in love with outdoor fabric. 😉