DIY How to reupholster furniture inexpensively

Furniture for the home is expensive, whether it is baby, living room, or for the whole household. We need to find new ways to brighten and freshen up all the furniture in your home. This article will show you how, to do just that, by cutting corners where you can and doing it yourself.

Inexpensive is the way to go. Anyone can pay an upholsterer to redo the furniture. That is okay for the rich, or the all fingers and thumbs kind of person. Let the experts redo the real antiques, unless you know exactly what you are doing. Antiques are worth too much to mess them up.

You have found an old dining room suite, with a matching footstool. Some of you might still remember how it felt to sit in those soft upholstered chairs. We can recapture that sensation again. Let's leave the chairs for now, and start on the footstool.

REQUIRED TOOLS & MATERIALS

Before starting you need the following tools: Flat headed screwdriver, pliers, sharp scissors, a chisel with a cutout vee (this enables you to get under the nail or tack to lever it out) fabric for recovering (for new upholsterers, use a plain fabric, until you are more qualified). Adhesive glue, tacks or upholstering tacks, if the padding sits above or visible on wood frame. You will need new padding or foam, if required, and a good staple gun.

INSTRUCTIONS

Unscrew the seat from its frame, to show the padding. Remove the staples or tacks with a flat-headed screwdriver or vee shape one. Start removing the old material; be careful with this, you will use this as your pattern, for the new covering.

This could be tricky. If it has springs, don't attempt to do it, leave it. for the professional. If not then continue -

Some use foam padding, if your one is old, it may need replacing. If foams glued to board, remove this foam and clean the board.

Use a two-three inch piece of foam, (depending on softness required). Place foam over the board and cut foam with knife to fit, leaving a half-inch overlap all round. Glue foam in position onto the board, not overdoing the glue.

Using the material, you took off for a pattern, cut out an identical one. If you changed the thickness of foam, allow for that extra thickness. Use a staple gun, and starting in the middle at the back of the seat, staple the fabric to wood and then staple at the same point in the front. Keep it even all round; you can mark it out and keep it in position. Keep the fabric tight, without wrinkles. Be careful not to stretch fabric out of shape. Do the same on both sides.

Now let's do the corners. Pull the material over the corners and staple, keeping it tight. With that done, work your way around seat, stapling from the corners to the center. Do one side, then the opposite side, still keeping fabric taught. When complete cut away the excess material and cover the rough side with another piece of material. You can use cardboard or material. Staple this onto the base to cover up the rough edges.

No, you are not finished. Did your footstool have wooden legs? If you answered yes, you should sand them down and re-varnish again. It is no good having a newly covered seat with chipped or scratched wooden legs. Leave this to dry overnight. Now fasten your covered seat back onto the base and you are finished.

Wow! I bet you did not believe, you could do it yourself.

Now, you can start again, and do all those great dining room chairs. Remember to revamp the table with a sand and varnish to match your new chairs.

Your friends will not believe you could do it. Now, give yourself a pat on the back, and try something harder next time.

By the way, it was not expensive to do either, was it?

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