DIY: Chair Upholstry

Inspired by this awesome DIY tutorial from Little Green Notebook, and completely uninspired by the current state of my chairs, I decided to tackle re-upholstering them, myself. Jenny (from Little Green Notebook) definitely made it look very easy to DIY this. Yes, it's not that hard but it still requires some skill, of which I had none, until perhaps chair number three. Luckily the fabric and my chairs are very forgiving so I don't think you can see too many blunders. The crazy print (to be revealed shortly - you will all laugh at what I chose!), hides imperfect corners and staple-gun in-coordination. 

Let's review the process:

1. Make sure you have all your tools handy (e.g. screw driver, staple gun, fabric scissors, material, fabric pen) and that your 9lb glow-in-the-dark dog does not steal your screw driver, and crouch under the bed..

 

2. Once you have rescued your tools, unscrew the seat from the chair. (Look at the "before-chair". Ugh. And so hard to keep clean when your dog gets hoppy!) Removing the seat is surprisingly easy, especially if these are the kind of chairs that I tend to buy (i.e. they come flat in a box from amazon and are self-assembly).

 

3. Lay all your seats onto your desired fabric ensuring that you have enough space around each seat to pull the fabric tightly and secure with staples. Jenny recommends 3in around each margin but I found 2-3in to be sufficient for me.

 

4. Once you have cut out your fabric, the fun with the gun begins! Remember to pull the fabric as tightly as you can before stapling it and to fold the corners of the seats as neatly as possible. See Jenny's amazingly easy-to-follow tutorial.

5. Secure the newly upholstered seat to the chair by the screws you removed in the first step. 

By now you have obviously seen my "wild" choice inspired by my existing table cloth. Despite zebra stripes being far out of my comfort zone, I feel like they complement the chairs well and are fun for some "Africans in the Apple". This process was relatively straightforward and inexpensive so if I wake up one day and decide that animal prints are not for me, I can change it. Alternatively I can buy some chairs that don't arrive in the mail, in pieces and require building. Just saying. 

Ta-da! What do you guys think of my controversial fabric choice?!