Do you have an ugly wood dining room table? One that was a bargain at a garage sale or a family hand me down? Or do you have one that you like but don’t love? Do you dream of having upholstered wood dining chairs? Do you spend countless hours scrolling through Pinterest to find the perfect dining room table and chairs? And then, you see it, you stop scrolling and you daydream of how that table would look in your dining room.
I envisioned my table having a few upholstery chairs and I needed to find a way to tone down all the wood that was in the dining room.
I kept telling myself that I could upholster 2 of the existing wood chairs and paint the rest. The painting was the easy part, the upholstery, not so much. I went back and forth on my decision to upholster wood dining chairs, because what if I failed.
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I decided I would forget the whole DIY upholstery and bought some chairs similar to these from Wayfair. After I purchased them, brought them home, put them together and they sat looking so pretty in my dining room. Now, I had the dilemma of having 10 dining room chairs because my table had 8 and now I just added 2 more. What was I thinking?
Guess what happened, I changed my mind and decided I did not need the extra chairs and I would use what I have. Look at it, I did it, they turned out pretty good for my first attempt! Now let’s show you how I did it!
Here is a DIY card to make it easy for the steps to be in one place and you can print the card to have with you as you take on your upholstery project.
Upholstered Wood Dining Chairs
Turn a plain wood chair into an upholstered beauty.
Materials
- Upholstery Fabric
- Foam Core
- Batting
- Board Backing
- Screws
- Washers
- Flex-grip
- Button Cover Kit
- Cardboard Strip or Upholstery Tack Strip
- E6000
- Spray Adhesive
Tools
- Scissors
- Hammer
- Drill
- Staple Gun
- Saw
- Marker
- Measuring Tape
Instructions
- Make a cardboard template for the chair back. Place that template on 1/8 inch hardboard and use a jigsaw to cut out the shape. My chair backs had a curve to them so I needed the thinner hardboard so it would curve with the chair. If you have a straight back chair, use a thicker hardwood for the back. If you are lucky enough to have a solid back chair, omit this step.
- Cut out the foam. Place the hardboard back and chair seat on foam and trace. Cut the foam shapes using an electric knife or scissors.
- Attach the hardboard to the back of the chair using the appropriately sized screws for the thickness of your wood and chair.
- Using spray adhesive, attach the foam to the hardboard on the chair back.
- Layout the marks for tufting. If you have a flat back chair you can omit the tufting.
- Begin the tufting process.
- Staple front upholstery to the back of the chair. Carefully adjust the tufting on the front before securing the back. This is an important step.
- Place back fabric on top of the chair and place a thin cardboard strip on top of the fabric. Staple the cardboard and fabric in place. The cardboard creates a clean edge when flipping over.
- Staple flex-gripon to sides of chairs. The direction of the flex-grip is important, it needs to be placed on the open side facing out to the edges.
- Place batting on the back, pull down fabric and begin to secure the back fabric in flex grip.
- Trim off excess fabric and tuck into the flex-grip.
- Gently close the flex-grip with a hammer.
- Finish bottom edge by folding the fabric under itself to make a clean edge around the chair back.
- Using a button cover kit, make buttons and glue over the washers using E6000
- Upholster the seat cushion.
Notes
See blog post for details on tufting with power tools.
How to calculate fabric
I found this great post from the online fabric store, Calculating Fabric Yardage for your Project. They also share some upholstery charts with images of furniture with the yards needed for that type of furniture. It is a great resource that will help.
My chair took slightly over 1 yard of fabric. This will vary based on the width of the fabric you choose.
Step 1
Make a cardboard template for the chair back. Place that template on 1/8 inch hardboard and use a jigsaw to cut out the shape. My chair backs had a curve to them so I needed the thinner hardboard so it would curve with the chair. If you have a straight back chair, use a thicker hardwood for the back. If you are lucky enough to have a solid back chair, omit this step.
Step 2
Now cut out the foam and fabric. Cut the foam to the exact size of your template. Place the hardboard back and chair seat on foam and trace. Cut the foam shapes using an electric knife. I prefer to use 2-inch foam
for my seat cushions. When cutting out the fabric, measure the width, and add the depth of the foam cushion. Also, add an extra 2 to 3 inches extra for wrap around and tufting.
Example: My chair back measures 20w x 24h. I added 4 extra inches for foam and 3 extra for wrap and tufting. I cut a 27w x 31h piece of fabric for the front.
Step 3
Attach the hardboard to the back of the chair using the appropriately sized screws for the thickness of your wood and chair.
Step 4
Using spray adhesive, attached foam to hardboard on the chair back.
Step 5
Layout the marks for tufting. Remember I said my chair back was curved, so I needed to tuft the chair in order to keep the fabric flat against the chair back. If you have a flat back chair you can omit the tufting.
The easiest way to layout the tufting marks was to find the center horizontally and vertically. I measured and marked the tufting spots from the center lines(5 inches). I thought my chairs would look best with 5 rows. Your chair may be a different size so you will need to determine your measurements on your chair. Using scissors, cut an “X” over each tufting mark. The x is done so you can feel where to place your screw when tufting since you place batting and fabric over your marks. Place batting over the foam.
UPDATE: I recommend that you treat your fabric before adding to your chairs. I used a fabric repellant on my chairs after they were done and I have a small rust spot on the back where the fabric tact must have been wet from the fabric spray. So AVOID the whole thing by treating your fabric before you upholster. I am just trying to save you the work of replacing the fabric later like I need to do. UGH!
Step 6
Begin the tufting process. I use these 3/4 inch washers and 1-inch wood screws to do my tufting. Yes, you heard that right, washers and screws to do tufting! If you would like more detailed instructions on this tufting process, stop over to read my DIY tufted coffee table bench.   I have the complete instructions for that post. Â
Since I did not have a solid back, I had to add a few wood pieces to the middle tufting row so those screws were secure. All but 3 screws went directly into the chair wood, so there is no going back now!
Step 7
Staple front upholstery to the back of the chair. Please refer to my other post on how to carefully adjust the tufting on the front before securing the back. This is an important step.
Step 8
Place back fabric on top of the chair and place a thin cardboard strip on top of the fabric. Staple the cardboard and fabric in place. The cardboard creates a clean edge when flipping over.
I made my own cardboard strip or you can purchase upholstery tack strip.
Step 9
Staple flex-grip
on to sides of chairs. The direction of the flex-grip is important, it needs to be placed on the open side facing out to the edges. See the picture above, because I placed it incorrectly the first time and had to remove it and do it again. Learn from my mistakes.
Step 10
Place batting on the back, pull down fabric and begin to secure the back fabric in flex grip.
Before closing the flex grip, trim off excess fabric and tuck into the flex-grip.
Tip: I used an envelope opener to tuck the fabric into the flex grip before and after trimming the extra fabric.
Gently tap the flex-grip closed.
Step 11
Finish bottom edge. I folded the fabric under itself to make a clean edge around the chair back.
Staple the fabric to the underside chairback.
Step 12
Using a button cover kit, make buttons and glue over the washers using E6000
. Again, click here for detailed tufting instructions. The benefit to gluing on the buttons covers, if one pops off, you just glue it back in place. With traditional tufting, if a button comes off, the tufting thread broke and that is not as easy as gluing on a button cover.
Would I do it again? Yes, if I already had the chairs. It was a difficult process so I would recommend tufting DIY~ Tufted Coffee Table Bench(Opens in a new browser tab) first.
I am so pleased with how they turned out, they are not perfect and that is ok, they are perfect for me!
Have you taken on a DIY project like this?
More Inspirations
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This is a great tutorial. Thank you for all the hard work you put into it. I never would have thought of this. Brilliant.
Is there a video of how to do exactly what you did? You did a very professional and beautiful job.
No sorry, I did not do a video as it was my first attempt so I didn’t feel confident to do a video for my first attempt. If I tackle something like it again, I will certainly consider a video.
Do I have to use foam and batting? Do I need cushion for the back of the chair? Thanks in advance
Hi Patrice, I like to use foam and batting, the batting makes it smoother and adds more cushion. If you are meaning the back of the upper part of the chair, you typically don’t need to add the foam depending on your chair design. However, each chair is different so without seeing the exact chair I can’t be certain if you can omit the foam or not.
This is so beautiful! I want to redo chairs that was just given to me. Nervous to try and got confused a little on the Tufted process. Definitely would like to have this look though
Planning the layout is the hard part- using a drill and screws is the easy part of the tufting.
I been looking for a tutorial on how to do the back of my chairs and ur chairs are similar like mine I did the seat but now I want the back. I will try and see how it turns out.
Good luck and please let me know how you did.
I love what you did, I lost my brother ,l have his old chairs, but I just I just couldn’t ever get rid of them, so thanks to you I’m going to reapolster them. I’m so excited.I’ll let you know how it turns out, wish me luck!
Hi Sharon, I am so touched to have been your inspiration with using your brother’s chairs. Please share with me your chairs when they are done. Good luck with your project!
I love what you did with dining room chair, I’m going to try, wish me luck!
I have chairs very similar to the ones in the photo and not only looking to reupholster the seat but create a backing. My question is how much fabric did you use for the seat and the back of the chair? I am trying to measure but configuring it into yards so I have enough for the seat and the new upholstered back. Love your post and it is exactly what I was looking for I am just not sure of how much fabric I need to order.
You need to measure each section add extra inches for the thickness of your padding and allow a few extra inches all the way around for the tufting and attaching the fabric. So an example would be a seat being 17 x 20 with 2-inch foam padding with no tufting. You would need to add 2 inches all the way around for the padding and 2 extra to staple onto the bottom. The fabric needed for the seat would be 24 x 28. I would allow for another 2 extra inches for the tufting. I will be updating this post on the amount of fabric I used for this chair, as others have the same question. Thanks and good luck
What was the approximate price for one chair to completely upholster like you did?
Ashlee, it is hard to know the price for one since so much of the supplies I had to buy more than I needed. If you find the flex-grip in smaller amounts you could redo a chair for under $40 or even less if you find used fabric for a steal. Sometimes you can find used shower curtains or draperies at a thrift store and use that as your fabric.
Just gorgeous and perfect! I have been searching loooong for a tutorial just as perfect as yours! Fall is here and I cannot afford the table I want just yet, and I am a bit attached to mine, I will start this tutorial tomorrow and hope its as beautiful as yours, thank you for sharing!
Eva, You will have to let me know how it turns out!
Very lovely. And thank you as I have an upholstery project I started …. months ago and became dejected as it just wasn’t working out the way I had hoped but, reading your steps identified where I had gone wrong. I plan to pull the chair out and give it some love.
I am so glad that it helped you. I hope you can successfully finish your project and love the labor of your work. Good luck!
Ater a long search on how to do this specific diy I found yours and it looks really good. I am completely new at this kind of projects, so my question is how do you treat the drop cloth? I know it said that you used a spray but is that all or is there more to it?
Hi Norma,
I am so glad you found this post. I love how my chairs turned out. Remember all chairs will be different but this post gives you the basic how too. Yes, I just used the fabric sealant spray, which should be done before you recover the chairs. You can reapply according to the directions, which I would recommend for chairs that are heavily used. I am getting ready to reapply the spray to the front of my chairs since it has been a while since I did it the first time.
They look great! Excited to try it myself. How much material would you suggest per chair?
I used a drop cloth as it would easily do 2 chairs and more, and it is a lot cheaper than furniture fabric. You would have to measure your chair and figure out how much material you would need as all chairs are different sizes.
Inspired!! Thank you so much for sharing the detailed process.
You are welcome!
Wow, what a beautiful job you did in this chair! I was wondering if you did all your chairs like this and if so, how many you did and how long it took. I am considering doing this to my dining chairs, but I have 6!! Thanks for your help, and your post!
Hi Emmy, I only did 2. It was a pretty big project and the second one was better than the first since I was learning as I went. I had 8 chairs for my table and decided to only do the 2 for the ends of the table. It was pretty time consuming, but it can be done on all 6. I had plenty of the materials to do all the chairs, as I had to buy a big roll of the tacting and the drop cloths are inexpensive. If you use fabric, it may be cheaper to buy new chairs as some fabrics can be expensive. Advice- I sprayed my chairs with a fabric repellant after they were done and the moisture caused a small rust spot where the tact is, so spray the fabric before you place on your chair. I need to update my post to state this.
I am reupholstering a dining chair. The back has no upholstering so I will be starting from scratch with that. The seat is covered but I want to replace with new cushion and fabric. How should I do this. Thank you, Marguerite
How long did it take you and how much did all the supplies cost? I’m looking to refurbish some old chairs and a table and a hutch, but don’t want it to be an overwhelming project! I’ve done tables before, but not chairs!
I absolutely love it! There is nothing wrong with my dinning room table and chairs but it definitly needs a new look. I am going to try this!! Thank you for the instructions!!
Good Luck April!