How to recover a dining chair | An easy and fast furniture upcycling project

In this easy furniture upcycling video, I’ll show you how to recover a dining chair. This is really easy to do, doesn’t take much time, and if you use recycled fabric, it’s extremely cheap.

#upcyclefurniture #furniturerenovation #diningchaircovers #diningchair #furnitureupcycle #upcycledfurniture #eames

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:09 How to recover a dining chair
0:30 Weekly upcycling inspiration
0:40 Remove the dining chair legs and seat
1:12 Choosing the fabric to recover the dining chairs
1:23 Cutting the fabric
1:34 Gluing the new fabric to the seat
2:30 Cut off the excess fabric
2:36 Clean up the chairs before reaffixing the seats
2:43 The finished dining chairs with recovered seats
2:46 The finished upcycled leggings
3:00 Subscribe for weekly upcycling inspiration

I picked up these replica Eames style dining chairs from my local Council throw out. Sadly, furniture manufactures now produce cheap products so we buy more but they don’t last. The vinyl fabric used to cover these chair seats was very poor quality, but this makes them cheap to produce.

One positive is, for non-consumers like myself, I really don’t have to buy anything new these days because so much stuff is being thrown out. I just bide my time and I’m sure to find what I need eventually, like these chairs!

Cleaning up and recovering the seat of these dining chairs was so quick and easy, it’s almost a crime that they nearly ended up in landfill.
So, the first step was to remove the seat from the legs. You could use an Allen key to do this. I had an appropriate drill bit.
Then the chair seat needs to be removed from the chair tub. Again, this be done with an Allen key or drill.
A friend had given me some old curtains that were perfect for this project. The curtain fabric was lined with a waterproof backing so, if there are any spills, they’ll be easy to clean.
Laying the seat atop the fabric, I cut around, giving myself quite a bit of additional fabric to work with. This makes it easier to grip and manipulate the fabric in place.
The original covers were affixed with staples into the plastic base. I don’t have a compressed air staple gun to replicate this so, instead, used a hot glue gun.
When doing projects like this, don’t buy the cheapest hot glue sticks. They’re OK for most projects but these dining chairs will need to withstand a bit of wear and tear so a quality glue is best.
To recover the seats, I started at opposite sides and glued the fabric in place, keeping tension on the fabric.
Then I switch to the other ends and repeated this.
Then started working diagonally.
Turning the seat over and checking my progress.
Finally, glue the loose fabric sections in place.
Then, just cut off the excess.
The great thing about the design of chairs like these is, when the seat is reaffixed, this will help hold the fabric in place too.
Before reaffixing the seat to the legs, I gave them a good clean and they came up like new.
Then I screw it all back together and they’re done.
Many other dining chair and office chairs have a similar construction to this so, keep a look out, and give it a go. This dining chair recovering project could not be easier.

Thanks for watching. If you’d like to see more videos like this one, please throw me a thumbs up. It really helps. If you’ve done a similar project, let me know in the comments and share your ideas. I upload upcycling projects weekly so, for more inspiration, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss an update.

See you next time,
BEX

ABOUT SECOND LIFE UPCYCLING
Second Life Upcycling is about altering and upcycling clothes to give them a second life, inspiring people to recycle, repurpose, refashion, reuse, and rethink. On this channel, you'll find easy, quick, and simple step-by-step clothes upcycling tips and easy sewing tutorials. I have been thrifting, second-hand shopping, and sewing for 30+ years. I started thrifting in the 1980s. My passion is following an ethical style when it comes to my clothing choices and living an environmentally friendly life. I rarely buy new clothes (or anything new for that matter), instead shopping second hand at shops, Goodwill, Vinnies, Salvos and flea markets.