How to Reupholster a Dining Chair – Seat & Back

This tutorial is all about how to reupholster dining chairs with fabric on the seat and back.

Often, pieces of furniture like this can look a bit daunting to upcycle. However, they don’t have to be.

Upholstering dining room chairs can be an easy and cost-effective way to breathe new life into special pieces of furniture that you want to keep in the family.

Charlie Miller, one of our regular contributors, will walk us through exactly how to recover dining chairs with her detailed step-by-step instructions.

We also have printable instructions if you want to have a hard copy on hand—you can find them at the bottom of this post.

I’ll hand over to Charlie now, I hope you enjoy this guide!

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I inherited a number of antique furniture pieces from my Grandparents.

I have had this formal looking dining room chair – is it maybe called a Carver’s Chair? – for years now.

I’ve always intended to re-cover and re-upholster it but it’s taken me a while to get around to it. This was the week!

Supplies Needed

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• Old dining chairs with padded seat, back and arm rests.
• Upholstery Fabric (mine was an Art Deco design bought online)
• Upholstery Staple Remover and/or Tack Puller
• Cotton padding
• Old Socks (optional)
• 60 Grit Sandpaper (optional)
• Staple gun and staples
• Exacto Knife
• Upholstery Stud trim
• Upholstery Hammer
• Fabric Scissors

Step 1: Removing the Old Upholstery Fabric & Padding

The first thing I did in my quest to reupholster my dining chair was to remove the old fabric by prying out the nails and staples.

I have a good staple puller but it still took me some time as they’d been in there awhile!

I followed the advice in another upholstery tutorial on this site that says it is best practice to save the old fabric as you take it off so you can use it as a pattern piece for your chair.

You don’t need to worry about the amount of fabric you need!

If you think about it, somebody ages and ages ago already did the measuring and calculating of how much fabric you’ll need, and how to cut out the corners – so it makes sense to just trace the old piece of fabric when cutting your new fabric!

I also removed the old padding at this point.

Step 2: Armrests

When I stripped the fabric off of the armrests of this old chair I discovered that there were wooden blocks attached to the arms of this chair that seem to have been added after it was made.

They were probably added the last time it was recovered in the 1950s – most likely by my Grandfather!

The previous fabric on the armrests was well worn on the corners from these wood pieces so I decided to sand down the corners of these sharp rectangular blocks of wood with 60 Grit sandpaper.

Step 3: New Padding

New ‘creative’ padding for the Armrests

I knew before I started this project that I wanted some additional cushioning on the armrests as they always felt a bit hard to me – that will have been that hard wooden block underneath!

I did staple on some new padding, but it still didn’t seem ‘cushy’ enough, so I added some old (but freshly washed!) socks.

You could use new foam if you want the arms to be even softer.

I cut the socks into rectangular pieces that fit around the wooden blocks. Turns out they were just the right size for what I needed!

I put another layer of cotton padding on top of the socks.

New Padding for the Chair Seat and Back

For the chair and seat back I went ahead and removed the old padding and replaced it with new cotton padding. I went as thick as I felt I could go with it and ended up adding a couple of layers.

I stapled it in place following the existing staple line for the old seat padding.

When all the padding was secured in place, I cut off the excess padding around the edges with an exacto knife (a craft knife in the UK).

Step 4: How to Reupholster A Chair and Seat Back  

Art Deco Upholstery Fabric

I chose a bold blue and white art deco fabric. My apartment is mostly greys, teals, and blues, so it fits in well.

I’m based in Vancouver, Canada and I ordered this fabric from Zazzle online.

You can buy the fabric in various weights. I went for Poplin which probably was a touch too thin. If I was doing it again I would switch my fabric choice and go for combed cotton blends or linen.

There are similar Art Deco fabrics available on Etsy here too. If you aren’t sure what type of upholstery fabric to go for you can also check out this guide that helps you choose which upholstery fabric to use and when.

If you want to buy fabric in person, go to your local thrift store or fabric store to make sure you know what you’re buying.

Velvet fabric is a really great choice for these types of chairs, as well as wingback chairs.

I wanted to leave the wood as it was rather than paint it as it is in good condition (plus my grandfather was not a fan of painted wooden furniture!).

I decided to pick a really bright and striking fabric so that it would still look more modern, even with the wood finish.

When I first started, I stapled on the fabric and cut off the excess fabric, as with the padding. However, that caused the fabric to pull. So, I started to fold the edge under and then staple it to the chair frame.

I stapled into the same spots/lines where the previous staples were located.

Tip: Be careful to line up the fabric and place staples at the mid lines on each side first and then staple along the edges.

The easiest way to get a smooth corner is to go from the middle outwards on each edge, pulling the fabric taut.

Step 5: Adding Decorative Trim

Once you have your upholstery fabric secured, you will still have a visible staple line, so this needs to be covered with some trim.

There are lots of different varieties on the market – I went with the hammered stud style trim.

These studs come in a long roll. Every fourth or fifth stud has a hole in it, and you also get a pile of loose studs with sharp nails on the end. These go through the holes and you hammer the whole strip down just at these points.

The strip of studs cut and bend easily, so they are quick and simple to work with.

You simply measure, cut, place it over your staple line and use a hammer to hammer in the studs that have the nails/spikes on them.

Step 6: Re-covering the Underside of the Seat

My last step was to re-cover the underside of the chair seat (the bottom of the chair).

I actually decided to add more padding at this point, so I shoved it in from below under the springs and smoothed it out. 

Then, I used some of the fabric I had taken off of the chair (a piece that was in the best condition) and added it to cover the underside.

I thought this was a little ‘added upcycle’ and also a way of keeping a bit of the chair’s history!

Finished Dining Chair Re-Upholstery Project

I am so pleased with how the new upholstery turned out!

Obviously, I was nervous about recovering such a family heirloom. The new fabric just blends in so much better with my home decor and I think my Grandparents would be so happy I am keeping their piece of furniture in the family too!

If you have a chair you’d like to re-upholster, you might also need to sand down and revarnish the wooden frame of the chair

I’m glad I had a go at this and didn’t use a professional upholsterer, with the right materials and the right tools, this is a job that anyone can do.

With proper care, these new chairs will stay in really good shape for a long time. I wonder what the next person to reupholster this chair will think of my sock armrest padding!

Top Tips for Dining Chair Upholstery

• Line up the fabric and make sure there is a slight overlap before you start stapling. It is easy to trim the fabric down afterward – you can’t attach more if you don’t have enough!
• When it’s time to start stapling, start from the middle of each side. Get all four middle staples in first and then start to pull the fabric tight towards the corners are you staple outwards from the middle.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Printable Instructions

How to Reupholster a Dining Chair - Seat & Back

Prep Time: 1 hour

Active Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 4 hours

Difficulty: Medium

Estimated Cost: 10

How to update an old dining room chair by reupholstering it!

Print

Materials

• Old dining chair with padded seat, back and arm rests
• Upholstery fabric (mine was an Art Deco design bought online)
• Cotton padding
• Old socks (optional)
• 60 grit sandpaper (optional)
• Staples
• Upholstery stud trim

Tools

• Staple gun
• Exacto knife
• Upholstery hammer
• Fabric scissors

Instructions

1. First you need to removing the old upholstery fabric. Take photos as you go and label each piece you take off. You will use these pieces as templates when you cut your new upholstery fabric.
2. Sand down the armrests if needed and do any other repair work to the wooden frame.
3. Replace seat cushion, springs and armrest padding if needed.
4. Cut your new fabric pieces to the same size as the old ones.
5. Pull the fabric tight as you staple the new fabric in place - try to attach it along the same line as the old fabric.
6. Optional - add decorative stud trim both to add a polished look and to hide any less than perfect areas of stapling.
7. Don't forget to replace the bottom cover of the chair if their was one.
8. Enjoy your new look dining room chair.

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