Antique Chair Reupholstery Project

It’s been awhile since I’ve messed around with some fabric.  I have enjoyed teaching myself some basic reupholstery skills, but man, upholstery is a beating!  My arms and fingers get so sore from pulling out staples and the pieces always take longer than I plan on them taking.

It was time though to take on this antique chair reupholstery project I’ve had in the waiting, so this past week I went to work.

I decided the hand-carved details were better left un-painted (shocker, I know!), so it was just the fabric that needed to be redone.

I have gone through a step-by-step upholstery tutorial before (click here to read one), so I’m not going to repeat each bit of the process in this post. But I do want to share a new bit of information about reupholstering I learned while working on this project–wear a mask when you are removing the old fabric!

The 50+ year old dust that spewed out of these chairs when I pulled off the fabric and trim gave me terrible allergies for a week! Lesson learned.

Here is one in her “undressed” state (thanks to our puppy for the photo bomb).

I love the story that this picture tells.  All of those staple and nail holes . . . no telling how many different looks this chair has seen!

With the open back the area to staple into was pretty narrow, so I had to be careful.  I have to re-learn a little bit with each reupholstery project I do–each piece has it’s own “issues.”  Once I got the hang of where these staples needed to fit though, it was really a quick process.

Here is one updated with its new, fun chevron fabric:

I’m so glad I decided to not paint them.  I think the wood is just gorgeous and the carvings still show so well.

And she has a nice set of legs!

Despite their delicate look, they are quite sturdy.  Whoever made these chairs many years ago made them well, and now they have a new look so they can be enjoyed for many more years to come.

I don’t have any other reupholstery projects in the waiting room, so it’s time to give my fingertips a break and go back to painting 🙂

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