apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

First I have to caution anyone against thinking an upholstery project will be a snap. In my experience as a novice re-upholsterer, EVERYTHING related to these tpes of projects seems to take longer than you think.

My mom and I recently signed up for a community ED upholstery class, so I purchased two wingback chairs from craigslist intent on using them for my class project. I also purchased ample fabric to use on them from JoAnns at a great price. To make a long story short, over the past six months I have learned that wingbacks are one of the trickiest projects to take on in the upholstery world due to their curves, and the basket-weave fabric from JoAnns couldn't have been a bigger mistake, as matching up the grid-like pattern is an absolute nightmare.

I will say though that the chairs pictured look like a much more manageable project and if you want to make your life easier, pick a fabric like a simple tweed that has enough random variety to hide your mistakes.

I just bought an armchair myself and am contemplating reupholstering it from it's horrendous gold velvet fabric...but, I'm terrified to do so.

Good luck!

It wont be as good as a pro, but you'll never learn unless you try. Give it a go, if it sucks you can always have it redone right? That being said, this looks to be a complicated project for a first effort. Rad chairs, I would be interested in seeing the fabric you're thinking of...

On the DIY meter this is a two - harder than screwing in a light bulb, much easier than refinishing an antique carved oak bedroom set. Make sure that there isn't much "give" in your fabric since this is your first attempt -denim or duck works great.

It might just be the photos, but they don't look like they need reupholstering to me... give them a bit of a shampooing and they'll be lovely!

Don’t do it yourself, wait until you can afford to do it the right way and use a professional, you’ll be much happier in the long run and that’s my 2 cents. Plus I’m one of those sickoid perfectionists.

You can always just sew your new fabric right over the old stuff, or you can paint the old stuff, or you can take the old fabric off and use it for a pattern.

No to the nail gun.

i think the only difficult part of this project would depend on if you want to keep the piping on the seat. Piping on upholstery has to be perfectly straight or it looks frumpy. If you are great with a sewing maching go for it though!! or you could try that fabric paint that AT posted a while back. :)

Yea, the piping will not be happening if I try this myself. :) As far as fabric paint, that's in an interesting idea as well. Thanks for all your comments!

Do NOT do it yourself.

It would look way better to have the piping, and it really won't cost much to take to a professional.

Earlier today I took a mid-century teak cushion-chair to an upholsterer and it only cost 70 bucks!

(go to a small independent business).

Here's what you do, there's a great lady in the valley I used when I was on that coast. Her name is Joanne from Valley Upholstery, they're in the book. Tell her Jackson sent you. She'll do you a great job at a very fair price ; )

don't do it yourself! there'll be flaws and wrinkles and you'll just end up noticing them all the time and then hating the chairs. or maybe that's just me...

I have a GREAT upholsterer located in Highland Park. Jesse's Upholstery on York btwn Ave 50 and Ave 51, right across from The York. I've been using them for the last 2.5 years for all of my personal projects and I also take all of my client's furniture there. Tony does all the estimates, and he's super fair and they're fast! They can turn a project around in a week or so if you need it that quick...Tell them Dean sent you!

I think one of these would be great for an interest test.

So many times I think up a project, purchase the tools, read everything required, start big, hit unexpected bs and then dread finishing.

You could test one of these chairs and decide if you want to invest in this kind of craft.

I'd carefully remove the fabric by ripping the seams. Mark each original piece, preshrink some heavy fabric (no patterns and follow the same direction throughout), trace everything, and begin sewing.

If you don't own a sewing machine, you could try one chair by hand and see how it feels.

Some upholstery jobs are ok for a beginner but these chairs are a little trickier. The fabric for the welt (it's "piping" on garments) must be cut exactly on the bias or it'll ripple. Then you must sew all the welt strips together and sew it around the welt cord with a zipper foot.

Then you have to pin the seat sides and top together with the welt sandwiched between, then sew it together with a very even seam that runs right along the welt cord. If your fabric is even moderate weight, this will be hard to do on most home sewing machines.

The welt on the bottom edge of the chair is tacked or stapled on so is not so tricky. The welt around the armrests will be tacked on and the fabric of the back hand sewn to the welt. This is nitpicky work to do well.

The back of the backrest is tacked at the edges, which is hard to do nicely, but it really would look better if it was hand sewn, which is also hard to do until you get the hang of it.

Still wanna do it yourself? I would get practice on an ottoman and/or a simpler chair or two first.

The good part is that these don't need hardly any fabric at all, maybe a yard and a half each, so if you screw it up you'll mostly have wasted time and not fabric. (Ebay is the best place for fabric deals, by the way!)

I reupholstered a chair with a similar curve in the back and it was very tricky. It doesn't look perfect, but I certainly liked it better than the "before" version. In the end, if it turns out terrible, you can always have a professional help you fix it.

I have found that basic math, common sense, and thoughtfulness can help you muscle through most DIY projects even if they are technically beyond your current skill set.

That said, I've never tried an upholstery project that wasn't just stapling new fabric over a base seat, but if I owned them, I would try out those chairs and even aim high for keeping the piping.

You know what? Just try it! Why not? To me, you got the chairs used, the forms aren't that complicated (see the discussion on wing back chairs), and they don't even require that much fabric. Won't it be an interesting experience either way?

A little clarification, first -- are you talking about recovering or reupholstering? Some DIYers may not differentiate but since we're all here to learn, there is a difference.
Recovering is removing the old fabric and replacing it with new fabric. Depending upon the DIYer, the type of furniture (how complex the design) and the type of fabric, it's a reasonable project. And as one Comment noted, it's a way to learn. After all, what's the worst that could happen?
Reupholstering is removing the old fabric, removing the old padding, and basically taking the piece of furniture all the way back to its hardwood frame. With reupholstery, you're getting rid of dust mites, etc., and getting a brand new piece of furniture. Sometimes, better than new. It *can* be a DIY project, but usually it's more than most DIYers want to handle: time, talent, expense, the quality of the original piece (is it worth it?). etc.
That said, these 2 chairs look like great candidates for recovering.
(I asked a professional reupholsterer why people use the words interchangably these days. He said there are 2 reasons: 1 - they don't know the difference, and 2 - when they do it themselves, it sounds more impressive if they say, "I reupholstered it myself" instead of "I recovered it with new fabric".)

I think I'd suggest having these particular chaird redone professionally. They have really clean lines that would be ruined if not kept nice and tight, so as a beginner, the odds are against you.

For starter projects, dining chairs that just need a staple gun or simple items without welting that can be slip covered or recovered easily seem like the better idea...

The seat might be doable....but I would think the back might require more advanced experience than I have. I'm only good with cushions and easier stuff.

Do it once, Do it right.
Hit me up. I'm a pro and have done many of these. Plus I'll give you a very fair deal.
Joshua Pfenning
www.properfurniture.net
info@properfurniture.net
323-919-4538

Do it once. Do it Right.
Hit me up. I'm a pro and will give you a very fair deal.
Joshua Pfenning
www.properfurniture.net
323-919-4538
info@properfurniture.net

I have done dining chairs with drop in seats and backs. Those are easy. These chairs are not an easy job. I'd say go with the pro for this one. Especially since you have such good offers!

A hack job will look like a hack job. The backs of those chairs look to have some hand stitching with would likely require a curved upholstery needle. Bottom line, it's not going to be easy, it probably won't look as good as it could but it will probably be fun.

I saw similar chairs on french5060s.com. This is a local Culver City antique dealer. Their stuff is beautiful but unfortunately out of my budget.

The chairs seem similar in spirit to yours, so white might be an idea. Eliminating pattern might make the job infinitely easier.

http://french50s60s.com/Seating/Armchair/15.html