apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

you need Singer Upholstery Basics--great book, tons of pictures. my local library has multiple copies so i would check yours first before buying. check out tonicliving.com for some fabrics--just make sure you buy upholstery weight fabric (54" wide) and can wait for their shipping times. my order took over 3 weeks to arrive, but you can ask for faster delivery options too.

flip your chair over and look at the underside of your chair back--the bottom rail should have a couple of screws anchoring the back pad in place. with those out, the whole thing should come out easily. from there it should be fairly easy to reverse-engineer. covering the back pad will require sewing a new cover (you can use the old one as a pattern), while the seat needs only staples.
good luck!

It looks like there is some narrow wood trim on the back of the back that you'll have to carefully remove in order to change the fabric. The seat is easy to do. The back, maybe not so easy.

Check Ebay for great deals on quality fabrics. Look for brand names like Kravet, Maharam, Unika Vaev, Knoll, etc. I have bought tons of upholstery fabric over the years on ebay and usually pay around $10/yd for fabric that retails for $100/yd and up! You do have to know what you're looking for since the seller doesn't always have a lot of information on any given fabric. A lot of them sell mill ends which are sometimes unmarked. That's why it's safer to stick to listings where the manufacturer is known.

I would suggest not painting these chairs - and not because I think wood is sacrosanct, but because I don't think a solid paintjob would make them look better. The beauty of the design is the texture of the carving highlighted by the way the pickled finish is applied. If you flatten the texture with paint, you'll be left with rather uninteresting banquet hall rental chairs.

Once you sort out how to do the upholstery, choosing a wild print or bright colour will neutralise the frame colour and you won't notice it. In addition to spanky's excellent eBay suggestion, try scouring your local high-end fabric showroom for discounted remnants, mill ends and overstock. The amount of fabric you need is not large and you could really score if you are willing to mix and match.

They would look so nice with a cotton face velvet in a miele golden yellow fabric. I would leave the frames alone. With a quality fabric nothing trendy you can have these forever.

great find.

Natalie,
See some upholstery projects here on ApartmentTherapy-chicago, http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/search?q=shelly
If you would like step by step online instructions for your particular chairs, email me at flipt@att.net.
Shelly

I just did not see how these were going to work, so I forgot about it. I was off doing something else, not even thinking about chairs and the answer came to me. And not even one answer, but two separate ideas.

Idea one: If you have a steady hand and good eye, paint the frames in subtle stripes in shades of green. Look at some striped bamboo for inspiration. Then I would reupholster in a coral color.

Idea two: If you leave the frames alone, go for a bold, African mud cloth look with your upholstery fabric.

The fabric looks like it's in decent shape, so I would maybe stencil some cool pattern on the fabric.

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/11/before-and-after-mayas-chair.html

But reverse the colors and stencil in black.
Or in a bright color.
The pattern could be anything from letters to Banksy-style graffiti to abstract shapes to florals...