I am sure, if you have read any of our previous posts, you know we are all into DIY.  There are so many things that you can do at home that most people waste money paying to have someone else do.  Most of the time, this waste is due to not knowing how to do something or just not having the time to do it.  But these days you can find just about any info you need or want on the web somewhere, our first stop is always Pinterest.    We like to do quick, easy upcycle projects but now and then we tackle a larger one.   We have several old, not yet antique, pieces of furniture here on the farm.  These pieces have been here for several generations and are part of the family.   We use them every day and we are very fond of them, but even family needs a makeover after a while.   Some of our old furniture was last re-covered by our grandfather in his ag class, circa 1950.  We decided there are 2 chairs and a couch that are in need of a facelift.  So we tackled one of the chairs first.   We have done recovering several times before so we have made all the mistakes before.  We have at this point done one of the 3 pieces.  We do have other pieces in mind and in the wings waiting recovering but for now, one was enough.   We are by no means professional when it comes to furniture recovering but we have done several now and so far all has gone well and all the furniture is in good working order with a bright, new look.

Here is the chair as it was and has been for some 50 years or more.

You will need some tools so get what you have together first.  From doing this before, we knew we would need a hammer, several sizes of pliers, a screw driver, a small pry bar and tweezers to pull it all apart.  To put it back together you need a hammer, a staple gun and staples, tweezers and new nails.  You can make the trim as simple or fancy as you want.  We went with the standard round top, finishing nails.

You will of course need to have your new cloth on hand.  You can make this any way you want it, depending on what kind of chair or other piece of furniture you are coving and how big the piece is.  The colors, patterns, themes, thickness and fabric type options are endless.  We went to Goodwill and bought drapes for our recover cloth.   Often we find fabric that we like but do not have an immediate use for.  If the price is right, we go ahead and buy it and put it up for later, we are always looking for ways to re-cycle, up-scale and save money.  This lets us have fabric on hand for when a new project pops into mind.

We went to work tearing the old covering off the chair.   You need to remember to be careful when taking the old covering off the piece.  You do not want to cause any damage to the frame of the piece or to yourself.  We can tell you from experience, old furniture covering can hold on for dear life when it comes to getting the old off.  Also a good thing to remember, the older the piece, the meaner the nails and pins that were put into them.  These older pieces were meant to last forever and they were constructed with that in mind.    You need to carefully pry out the old nails and pins to be able to pull off the old covering.   

Next you will need to pull off all the old cloth to expose the foam and padding underneath.  We found it best to pull each pieces of cloth off and lay it to the side in place as it was on the chair.  This placement keeps the pieces in order as they come off so you can put new pieces back on in the same order.

Yes, there is an order to this madness.

It is a good idea to carefully look over the padding and foam to be sure they are still in good shape.  If they are not still in usable shape you will need to remove the foam and padding to be able to replace them as well. 

We had to replace the set foam but the rest of the chair padding was still holding its shape.

It is a good idea to re-secure any padding that you may have dislodged in the tear down process.  We used the staples to make sure all the underlying padding and foam was secured to the wooden frame.

Once you have managed to get all the pins, nails and covering off and have decided whether or not to keep the padding and foam, you will need to clean the chair well.   It should not come as a surprise but chairs collect lots of things and the older the chair, the more stuff it had time to collect.   We found all kinds of things in the internals of our chair, change, lint, candy wrappers, sewing pins and lots of dust and debris.   We took a vaccum to suck up all the stuff in the cracks and crevices of our chair.   I must point out that doing the tear down outside on the porch or side walk would be best but if you cannot get the chair outside just be prepared to do some clean up.  We have had great success in cleaning with Fabuloso.   Fabuloso is a cleaner from Mexico.   It works on just about anything and so far has not discolored any of the cloth we have used it on.    Any scent will do but it is best not to use the one with Clorox.   With Fabuloso, we just mix with a bit of water and either spray or wipe any surface that we need to clean.  Fabuloso works on most surfaces hard or soft.   There is no need to wash off, just spray and let it dry.  If you have stains on your cloth, you can spray Fabuloso directly onto the stain and scrub with a rag to get the stain out.  We like the easy and safety of Fabuloso and have used it for many years on many cleanup projects.  You can get Fabuloso at most grocery stores or large one stop shops in the laundry isle.

You can see we have moral support and sage advice covered as Lollie the pug oversees the work.

Now that the tear down and clean up are done, the real fun begins, the recovering.  We found the best was to keep track of the pieces and their placement on the chair was, as I said before, take them off and place them to the side as they came off.   Unless you have done chair recovering many time and just know where each piece goes and in what order and direction, we are not that good yet, you will be happier if you keep them in order to start with.  We use the old cloth pieces as a pattern for the new cloth and cut accordingly.  In places where you have to tuck and stuff, that is not of much help but does give you an idea of the amount of material you will need, even if it is not exact.  Here is where the keeping the pieces in order comes in.  Cut, place, pull and secure each new piece of cloth to the chair.  We used upholstery staples with a large, mean, hard to pull staple gun.  I am sure there is a real staple gun that is used for this but we used what we had.

It is easiest to cover the seat part first.  This way you can get all the pulling and tucking done without messing up the other pieces.  The seat needs to be good and firm so the cloth does not wander around when you sit down.  First, staple the new cloth to the bottom on the chair front.  We have an old chair that has a wooden frame so this was easy to do.  This gives you a solid base and something to pull from. 

We have found that getting the cloth pulled tight and straight is one of the most important steps.  If you do not get it on tightly, you will have a saggy, wiggly covering.    Be sure to pull the cloth tight, this does take more than one person.  

Again, we used the staple gun to secure the cloth to the wooden frame once it was pulled as tight as we could get it.  It worked best for us to pull and staple a short piece at a time.  We had a good bit of cloth and the extra will get in the way if you do not keep it under control.   Tuck, pull and staple till you get the seat part done.

Once the seat is done, move on to the seat back.  Following the same process, tuck, pull and staple till you get it tight and secured all the way around.

You may need to cut any excess cloth as you go from section to section.   Do not be afraid to use your staples, this is what keeps it all together when you are done, so the more the merrier. 

Move on to the arm pieces, again, tuck, pull and staple.   It is important that you get the pattern in line if you have that kind of pattern.  So be sure you have the correct sections when moving to the arms so it will match up with the pattern of the back and seat.

Once you have all the sections pulled and stapled, the cloth should be secured to the wooden frame and ready to sit in.  This is where you add the decorative trim, if you are going to.   We used the round top, finishing nails.  They are a simple nail that gives just a hint of antique metal, looking accent.  You can get different types of nails to finish you piece.  The nails come in different metals, shapes and textures.

When you are finished you should have an old piece of furniture with a fresh new look.  

Add accent pillows or throw blankets to make your new chair comfortable and homey.

Sit back in your chair and enjoy your handy work.  Of course the final test is to be sure it is comfortable enough for the whole family.

It may take some time and patience but it will be worth it.  You have up-scaled your own chair with your own hands and skill.  There are few things more rewarding than knowing you have done it yourself.  You have repaired something you can be proud of and that the item has practical use.

Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.