How To Reupholster A Chair Part 1 | The Makings Of A Deconstructed Chair

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You guys, look at what I found on the side of the road!!!

Today I’m going to be sharing Part 1 of How to Reupholster A Chair. The Makings Of A Deconstructed Chair.

I found this chair on the side of the road and thought it would be a perfect How To Reupholster project for you guys!

Some of you may think that picking up stuff from the street is gross. I have to tell you so many things in my home are either from the thrift store, garage sale, estate sale, or a curbside.

The statement that one mans trash is another man’s treasure couldn’t ring more true for me.

I actually prefer to have used things in my home believe it or not. Okay, maybe not used per se but vintage. I love things that have a history behind them. It’s what makes things special for me.

When it comes to antiques and vintage pieces, I can’t help but imagine it’s former life. I like to try and imagine the kinds of conversations that happened around found items. Whether it is a table where a family got together every week for dinners and game nights. Or a rocking chair that a first-time mother used to rock her child to sleep.

Whatever it is, I love the idea of taking something that someone might look at and think it’s nothing but a piece of junk and taking it and with a little TLC, and reupholster revamp giving it life and purpose again!

Of course, I’m always looking for special pieces, something that not only looks sturdy but maybe also has a unique design or shape.

In the case of this chair, I really loved the wood detail that runs up the sides of the back support. I see a lot of chairs that have a very similar frame and upholstery design but I hadn’t seen one with that wood detail on the side and I just loved it!!

When Tom spotted this chair and pointed it out to me I hadn’t really given it a good look before I said toss it in the back. I simply thought “cool chair, I’m sure I can do something with it”.

When I got home I was able to give it a much more thorough inspection. I saw that although the fabric itself was in pretty good shape, no real tears or anything like that.

The chairs’ original fabric was outdated. And had a large very questionable stain on the front. This simply could not stay.

This chair NEEDED to be reupholstered.

One of the first things I did before I even started to take the old upholstery off was hop straight on to Pinterest for some inspiration.

Here are some photos I used as my inspiration.

You can find all of these images and their sources on my Pinterest board here.

I’ve been really wanting a deconstructed chair for a while now. They’ve been showing up in my Pinterest feed for a while now so I decided I’d make this chair my first attempt at a deconstructed chair.

Now that I had an idea of what I wanted the end result to look like it was time to start actually taking it apart.

Now I don’t have a ton of reupholstery experience but I had reupholstered a couple of chairs a while back. Actually, I re-reupholstered them because my first reupholstery attempt failed miserably.

Point is, I quickly learned that reupholstery like all other hobbies is an art form and it takes practice. The kind of piece your reupholstering will determine the overall difficulty but in general, it really does just take practice.

My previous attempts were on some pretty basic chairs. I quickly realized the second I took off the back panel and saw the tufting this was a much tougher project.

I want to share one piece of advice when learning how to reupholster. This will make your life SOOOO much easier!!

Take LOTS of photos!!!

I can’t stress this enough. Try to take photos of the original chair, that show clearly which part of the piece you are looking at. And take lots of photos of the chair as you before and after you take pieces apart.

These photos are going to be so helpful when you’re ready to put the new upholstery fabric back on. You’ll be able to look at how/where panels were originally placed.

This will be a key factor in making the end result look as professional and clean as possible.

You won’t remember every little detail of how it was all nailed so be thorough with your photos.

You’ll use these photos working backward as you put it all back together. So try and work on one part at a time.

I started with the bottom and back panels on this chair.

Then I removed the whole back piece with the tufting, then the arm panels.

In all honesty, I should have done the arms first and the back tufted panel last.

Oh well!

Another important tip when learning how to reupholster is to be sure to label all your panels as you take them off.

You’re going to be using these panels as the template for your new upholstery fabric later on.

It’s not always clear which piece was which so label them clearly.

Now I’m all about saving money and upholstery materials can be expensive. So I was very careful when removing everything.

Try your hardest to not bend the tacks too much and not damage the foam batting or stuffing.

Foam is ridiculously expensive if you didn’t know. I have no idea why it costs so much. I’m not going to spend $60+ on new foam when I can use the existing as long as I’m careful.

A note about the tacks. There are tools specifically for upholstery. These tools make the process easier for you but they’re not all necessary. One of these tools looks like a little mini crowbar and it helps to remove upholstery tacks.

I didn’t have one on hand and I’m not patient enough to order or go to the store for one.

So instead, I used a chiseled spackle, hammer, and needle-nose pliers. For the most part, this worked okay. I did notice in some of the smaller areas it damaged the wood slightly. So that tool would have come in handy for those places.

Taking the chair apart is going to be the quickest and easiest part of the project.

I got mine all taken apart in probably a couple of hours give or take a few breaks in between.

After all the fabric and tacks were taken off, the chair looked like this.

I was very impressed with the frame of this chair. Compared to my last upholstery project it was a beast and very well built.

I’m not going to lie, I really liked the way it was with no fabric on it at all…

And for a second I contemplated leaving it that way. In the end, I knew leaving the chair exposed how it was would not last long here on the farm.

I really wanted this chair to last a while and be able to hold up being used regularly.

So that’s it for part 1 of How to Reupholster A Chair. Today covered the steps of taking it apart including some helpful tips I’ve learned that prove useful in Step 2.

I’ll be sharing Part 2 later this week on the blog so stay tuned!

In Part 2 I’m going to get very in-depth taking you step-by-step exactly how I reupholstered this chair. Including the tufting and stuffing process and even tips for creating the perfect deconstructed look.

You won’t want to miss it, trust me! I’m so excited to share it with you guys!! Subscribe below to get updates on new posts and DIY projects like this.

I’m so excited to share it with you guys!! Subscribe below to get updates on new posts and DIY projects like this.

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I hope you guys enjoyed today’s post about Hot To Reupholster.

If you have any questions about the steps above or questions about reupholstery, in general, leave it in the comments below!

Keep in mind though I’m not en expert upholsterer, and it just takes practice.

Thank you soooo much for stopping by the blog today, your support means soo much to me!

Be sure to check out some of my other DIY and craft posts.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this How to Reupholster A Chair series.

Also, if you enjoyed this post I’d really appreciate you sharing it on Pinterest. I’m just starting out on this blog and have a very small amount of readers. Any support or sharing really helps it grow so I can share my projects with other creative minds.

Reassures me someone finds what I blabber on about every week somewhat interesting, and that means the world to me!!

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