With simple sewing and no previous major upholstery skills, this French chairs makeover turned out fabulous. I’m sharing my tips and steps I took so that you can tackle something like this, too, and save big.
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I am beyond excited to finally be able to share our DIY upholstered French chairs!! These little ladies were a long time in the making (okay, years…), with many bumps in the road that caused me to ignore them for months at a time. The thing that kept me from giving up on them was the vision I had in my mind of what they would look like in our living room with new paint and neutral upholstery.
Oh, and the fact that they were only $25 each and I couldn’t afford the $500 and up a piece for new chairs. Yeah, now that I think of it, that was probably more of a factor than the vision, ha!
But oh, is it a pretty good feeling to see these in our home and realize they look even BETTER than I had envisioned. I love how much lighter and airy they are than our previous over-stuffed chairs – both in their size and legginess and the light colors.
My inspiration came from a number of places, but the best is this chair from Restoration Hardware with a distressed white frame, linen interior upholstery with burlap on the outside. And a hefty $1295.00 price tag…each. Ouch.
BUT, I have never upholstered anything before. I’ve sewn a lot of slipcovers and recovered dining chairs but no upholstery. It’s one of the reasons I thought I could do this style of chair, actually, because most of the upholstery was just a matter of stapling fabric to the exposed frame. I still had to deal with the inside of the chair – but figured I’d deal with that as I came to it.
And I did – and you can, too, if you find chairs like this (with exposed frames), even with no upholstery skills and minimal sewing.
I did learn a couple of things that I want to pass on to you if you’re ever in a place to redo any type of chairs, because it’s a case of “hindsight is 20-20.” So let me be your “hindsight,” okay?
Steps to DIY French Chairs Makeover
Look for a deal on chairs
Here’s what I started with: a pair of French-style chairs, circa late 70s, from Craigslist for $25.00 each. Score! Um, sorta…I had searched for almost a year for this style of chair with a mostly exposed frame, which seldom come up in our area, and knew this was a great price, even with the problems they had.
Fix any problems.
- The worst of the problems with our chairs was really wobbly arms which we fixed in a totally non-furniture maker way.
- The frame had been painted in such a way that it looked dirty.
- The fabric had been painted with a maroon stiff paint.
- The cushions were also super flat.
Remove the staples and fabric, keeping the pieces as a pattern for the new fabric.
Removing the staples is the worst part of this job – really. I attempted to use this cool tool, which worked on some staples, but not many because I learned that when you paint fabric (at least like these were painted), it causes the staples to rust. Every. Single. Staple. When you try to pull out rusted staples, they break in half, leaving two dangerous, pointy ends that you have to attempt to pry out with needle-nose pliers.
Every. Single. Staple.
So the removal of the fabric and staples took…years. Oh, how I wish I was exaggerating. But I would decide to tackle the job and 2 hours later would only have half of a section removed. At which point I would find other, less time-intensive projects to do. Cue the cycle to repeat over and over.
And to be honest, I might still be working on them if it wasn’t for Brian taking pity on me and spending some Saturdays last fall watching football while pulling pieces of staples out of the frame. #lovehim
You can strip the frame completely, carefully setting aside the batting pieces to reuse, as well as the fabric pieces for patterns for the new fabric OR you can do what I did and leave the batting on the insides (it fell off the outsides), painting around it. I did this because I was scared I wouldn’t get it all back in place, but it was also one less step to redo in the end.
Paint the frame.
Choose your color and paint your frame. It was a happy day when I finally was able to start painting the frames! I tried a couple of paint techniques, one being a gray-wash look like these frames, but in the end decided a distressed creamy white was going to give the best contrast with the burlap and beige linen-like fabric.
Cut fabric pieces and staple them to the inside, starting with the “deck” – the seat section.
Starting with the seat section (upholsters call this the deck), staple the front edge first and then pull back to staple under the chair back from the outside (you can see in the lower right photo the part of the frame the staples go – the back has an area like this, too, which you can see below).
TIP: I highly recommend using a compressor and pneumatic gun. Rent or borrow if you can’t afford one (or check out Harbor Freight’s prices!) – it makes projects like this go 2-3x as fast. I used a pancake compressor and pneumatic gun with an extended tip (a must for getting into tight corners) using 3/8″upholstery staples. Actually, I wish I would’ve used the 3/8″ – I used 1/2″ staples and they were horrible to remove when I stapled in the wrong place (it happens…). Learn from my mistakes!
You’ll notice that many chairs use a different material on the deck since it won’t be seen – it’s a way to use less of the more expensive fabric. I used drop cloth for the deck, because I didn’t have enough fabric and I wanted everything I had to be used where it was seen. (This is another thing to learn from my mistakes: you’ll be investing a LOT of time into this project – buy quality fabric and enough of it!)
The front section is seen, of course, so I sewed burlap to the drop cloth – this was the only sewing needed besides the cushions. I used a curved upholstery needle to attach the seam of the burlap-drop cloth piece to the underside of the seat to make it tighter (also, the original fabric was sewn here, too- it’s a professional technique).
Which leads me to my biggest upholstery tip I’ve used on all our projects, from dining chair seats to these chairs: to achieve a professional upholstered look (or as close as you can get):
Pull the Fabric as Tight as Possible
It really makes a difference! So pull the fabric tight and staple away on the rest of the inside pieces. The corners will be a bit tricky, but pulling tight will really help them to come together.
Staple outer fabric pieces to finish upholstering.
Replace the batting on the back and outside arms sections before stapling the fabric to the edges. Take your time and pull evenly tight. I had to really be aware of this with the burlap, since it’s a looser weave.
Trim fabric, if needed, as close as possible to the staples and wood frame.
All that’s left after trimming is to cover up the exposed staples to finish the chair frame. There are a couple choices:
- gimp braid in a coordinating color (usually white or off-white)
- cording – applied singly or double (either handmade or decorative cord)
- other type of fabric trim (get creative – anything that can be glued down)
Apply trim to cover staples.
I chose to go a creative route, since I wanted the trim to help coordinate the burlap and linen colors. I found this thick 4-ply jute cord that matched the burlap color perfectly and helped to tie the colors together that I glued over the staples (if I hadn’t found the thicker jute, I would have just glued down two rows of thinner jute).
Use a hot glue gun to apply your chosen trim. Alternately, you can use upholstery tacks and a tack hammer to nail on top of a flat trim for a different look, but it’s more time-intensive. This type of upholstery tack strip may make it go quicker.
Sew the cushions, building up foam as needed with batting.
This is the only real sewing needed. I sewed the cushions similar to these cushions (minus the extra fabric for the edges), using the original fabric pieces as a pattern, but added a zipper at the back for easier cleaning.
I wanted an over-stuffed look, so I wrapped the well-used cushions with extra-loft batting and even added old feather pillows for a plush look (this is one of my favorite tricks when updating old cushions- I added feather pillows to the seat and back cushion on our couch that you can see below).
I wished I had enough fabric for piping along the edges, though – another reason to spend the money to get enough fabric! They just look a bit unfinished to me.
And with that, all that’s left is to enjoy them in your home. I love, love how these chairs look in our living room! They are light and airy with the exposed feet and I like the elegance of the shape contrasted with the nubby burlap.
They really are even better than I always pictured in my mind! I’d love to hear what you think – leave me a comment and be sure to pin this project if you’re wanting to do something similar.
Let me recap my biggest take-aways from this project in case you are thinking of tackling a similar one:
- It will take TIME. You will sweat, and there may be blood and tears (there were all for me).
- Because of #1 – invest in the right amount fabric and good tools! You will not regret it.
And, let’s just take a look at the before and after again:
Pretty cool, right?
More Furniture Transformations to Check out:
Craigslist Dining Table Makeover
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Jauquetta says
I bought a similar chair, got it for $3.75 at a thirft store. I pulled out 746 staples! Shouldn’t have ever started counting them! It has been a trial. Another thing i recommend to first timers, NEVER START WITH FABRIC THAT HAS A DEFINITE PATTERN! This isn’t the time learn that, as well as the basic work. I’m having to put webbing in the back. It was cardboard before and squeaks, onec replaced. Back to the store for webbing and a puller and tacks! Undo the work on the back and redo! I know get why they charge so much, lolo!
Still I’m excited to slog on. Couldn’t reuse anything as they had a cat! It shed everywhere and clawed up the chair.
Jami says
$3.75??? I’ve never seen any chair for that low, let alone one of these – great find!! I completely hear you about the staples, as well as redoing – I thought these would be the end of me, but I’m SO happy with the result. Maybe it was worth it? 🙂
Jauquetta says
Well was 15 to start, then marked down 75%. The cat had shredded it badly. I figured i would learn on it and if all else failed, chuck it out! Like i said, it was full of cat hair! Once i get it done I’ll post pictures on my Facebook site. Ugh, first fabric was way too loose, that had to come back off! It sure is a steep learning curve! I’m NOT GIVING UP! I love the style so much.
I’m always finding stuff to fix! Linen especially. Trying to teach myself to cover a lampshade. A work in progress. Lol!
Holly says
Just found your great blog – loving it! I think these chairs look better then the Restoration Hardware ones! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Jami says
Thank you so much, Holly!!
Cathy W says
Really beautiful and so creative. Good tutorial too.
Jami says
Thank you, Cathy!
Laura says
Hi,
I just stumbled across your site while searching for chair makeovers and i gotta say, these look so beautiful! Excellent work, I wish mine will turn out as good as yours. I love the look and color of the chairs.
And thank you for your report.
Jami says
Thank you, Laura! I hope yours do, too – I’m thrilled with how they turned out (even though they were a pain to do, ha!).
Tobias Armstrong says
I love trying to do little DIY projects like this on my own. I love that you mentioned that you’ve never tried to upholster anything before this. It really gave me hope that someone like me can be successful too! I love the step by step process too. Thanks for sharing! Now I’m excited to go try it myself.
christine says
Hi Jami, Greetings from Medford! Thanks for the inspiration I needed to tackle an old wing back chair, that has been sitting in my office for more than a year. Jami these chairs look amazing, love the color, they look super comfy too ! Just beautiful ! Jami you are such a down to earth person, someone I can relate to ! Hey, are you burning up, like we are here in Medford? Give me a low ninty degree day and I will be thankful! Blessings to you, Christine
Jami says
Hi Christine – what a fun comment! I’m so glad you were inspired – I hope your project goes well for you. And yes – I think we had 4 90+ days in a row, which is sweltering for us up here, ha. Clouds and cooler weather is coming, though. 🙂
Linda Pemberton says
Love, Love, Love your chairs!! That style chair is getting hard to find now because they’ve become so popular. I BOUGHT 1 chair from Ballard Designs for about $500. Thank you for the step by step instructions. Hopefully, one day………
Jami says
Thank you Linda! I was originally going to link to the Ballard chairs, but when I found the RH chairs for twice the price, that just seemed more dramatic. 😉
JoAnn says
Your chairs are beautiful. You did a fantastic job. Also, thank you so much for sharing your step by step process. It was one of the best tutorials I have read. I have made slipcovers and recovered dining chairs but never tried reupholstering . But after reading your process I may just give it a try. Thank you again for sharing.
Jami says
Oh, thank you, JoAnn – really, because I was thinking I didn’t do a very thorough step-by-step! Mainly because when you work on things for years, you forget to take pictures along the way. 🙂 It’s definitely do-able – but look for furniture that has frames that you can staple to, that was key for me. And that the seat was in good condition -if I had to deal with webbing and springs, I’m not sure how long it would’ve taken me!
Joni Warren says
Jami, you did a great job! I had my own Upholstery Business for 23 years and you gave the correct advice. Take your time, and invest in the correct tools. I have told customers that same thing. I think the correct tools is even more important. Over the years, I think I recovered at least 200 chairs and couches and loved doing everyone of them.
Jami says
Oh my goodness, Joni, I had a fleeting thought while I was writing this up, “what if there’s an actual upholsterer who reads this?” At least I didn’t pretend to know what I was doing, ha! Thanks for your sweet words of encouragement – and while I love the end product, I think I’ll hire someone like you if I have any other upholstering to do in the future. 😉
AndiW says
Beautiful. Love your artistry and step-by-step instructions, complete with blooper-reel! 😀 Thanks for publishing!
Jami says
Ha – thanks, Andi!
Susanne says
WOW amazing transformation! Love them! It sounds/looks like it was worth all the blood, sweat and lots of tears! Would love to tackle a project like this one of these days, but have to take baby steps. Will look at some of your other DIY furniture make overs. Would to have at least one of my own creations for our remodel next year, guess I better get started!
Jami says
Thank you, Susanne. 🙂 Have you covered foot stools or chair seats? That’s easy and usually a great transformation. That’s where I started, too.