How to Upholster a Chair Begins by Inspecting Its Condition
You are ready to learn how to upholster a chair. First, you need to do an inspection of its condition. Until you have completed inspecting it, you will not know if it is going to be an easy project or more involved. Sometimes, a chair just isn't a good candidate for reupholstering, unless there is a very special reason to do so.
With the chair setting in an upright position, look at it from all directions to see whether it has retained its shape. Look at the inside arms, especially the tops. Has the inside back retained its shape. Don't forget the cushion. You are determining if your chair has retained its shape sufficiently so that you will not have to do major replacement of the padding.
Next, turn the chair upside down or sideways for easier inspection of the frame and springs. This requires removing the dust cover.
When you learn how to upholster a chair, applying the dust cover should be the last thing you do to complete your chair. It is a black cover attached to the underside of the chair seat base. It is referred to as the dust cover. It is fastened to the bottom of the seat frame with tacks or staples. It should be fairly easy to remove. Occasionally, a chair will not have a dust cover.
As you look at the visible parts of the frame, what do you see? Are joints fastened together tightly? Are there any loose joints, cracks or breaks in the frame that will require the extra regluing?
A chair usually has a spring base of some type. If it consists of "S" curved springs running from front to back, they will be visible once the dust cover is removed. Are these spring strips fastened in place?
If you see an interwoven bed of webbing strips running from front to back and side to side, you have coil springs. They should be okay unless this is an older chair.
You have now performed a simple inspection of your chair. Hopefully, you found the padding had retained its shape, the frame did not require any regluing and the springs would not need any special attention. If so, you are ready to begin your project.
Learning how to upholster a chair is a worthwhile and rewarding skill. How To Upholster Furniture can be a helpful resource in learning to upholster. Even if you do know how to reupholster furniture, this book will offer some valuable tips you probably never thought of.
