Introduction: Give Those Old Desk Chairs New Life!

By Grace DuVal

When we moved into our new house, my boyfriend and I made it a top priority to give ourselves a studio space where we could work on projects in our spare time. We're both always looking for innovative ways to get exactly what we want using as little money as possible, and with this in mind we spent tons of time creating the perfect layout, custom building corner desks and laying repurposed hardwood flooring.

While making our ideal studio space, I stared at our old desk chairs in dismay. While they worked perfectly well, the scratchy, ugly brown fabric that they were upholstered with was simply unacceptable in our new, beautiful space. I decided that we needed to reupholster them, and after a quick trip to the fabric store and a few hours with a staple gun, we had a pair of brand new desk chairs for about five bucks! It was super quick, easy, and entirely transformed our studio.

Here's how to do it...

Step 1: Materials You'll Need

–Old desk chair[s]
–Fabric. (Ours took about ½ yard per chair, but measure the hight and width of your backrest and seat cushions, adding 4” to each side to be sure you have enough to wrap around them)
–Screwdriver (philips or flathead depending on your chair's assembly components)
–Staple gun
–Scissors
–Extra pair of hands (you'll need help stretching and holding the fabric)

Step 2: Disassemble Your Chair

Obviously every office chair is different, and some may be more complex than others. Ours were fairly straightforward to take apart, so I'll show you how we did ours. You'll have to take a second to look at yours and see how it comes apart. Possibly you have the instruction manual to help you along, otherwise just use some common sense and a screwdriver.

Start by turning the chair on its side and seeing what needs to be unscrewed. Our chairs needed to have the armrests and legs removed with the screwdriver, while the backrest easily removed by unscrewing the giant knob that lets you adjust its height. When you're finished the back rest and seat cushion should be completely separate from the other components of the chair.

Pop off the plastic backs from the cushions so that all of the staples are exposed.

Step 3: Cut Fabric to Size

Lay your cushions on the fabric and cut around them, leaving enough of an edge so that you can easily staple them to the underside. Give yourself between two and four inches for leeway. Better leave more than less, you'll cut off the excess at the end!

If your fabric has a certain pattern that you want to show, take time to make sure the pattern is sitting the in correct place. 

Step 4: Go to Town With the Staple Gun!

Now comes the most important part: stapling your fabric into place. The most important part is to make sure the fabric is stretched as tightly as you can make it. Over time the fabric will loosen as it's used, so keep it taught.

Start by stapling one side into place with a few staples. Then, pulling the fabric as tight as you can, staple the side directly across from it. Repeat this on the third and fourth sides, making sure to keep the fabric as tight as possible. Just put a few staples into place so you can get the basic shape laid down. Once you have all four sides in the right position staple along the entire perimeter to connect the sides. 

Corners are very important, since you want don't want the gathering to show and be lumpy on the seat. Do them last after all of the sides are completed. Pull the fabric tight and evenly distribute the gathering. Get your partner to staple while you hold in place. Repeat with the other three corners.

By the end you should have a beautifully smooth cushion. Repeat with the second cushion.

Step 5: Trim Excess Fabric

Once both of your cushions are completely stapled, turn them over and trim off the excess fabric.

Step 6: Reassemble Your Chair

Snap those plastic backs onto your cushions and reassemble your chair! Screw the legs back to the seat, put the backrest back on, reattach arms if you have them, and tighten everything up. 

Step 7: Enjoy Your New Chairs

Sit back and enjoy your beautiful now chairs! With just a few hours of work I was able to transform my chairs and give them a completely new life to compliment our studio space! Hopefully you'll be just as pleased as I was.

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