A New Look for Our Dining Room Chairs

We bought our dining room set almost 7 years ago when we moved into together. Some days it seems like yesterday we were driving through our favorite neighborhoods in East Fort Lauderdale looking for our "perfect" first place together. The reality was that it's was the Mister's first purchase and I wasn't going to move in right away. I was going to wait until my lease was up. Ha! Here's how it actually played out... he closed on the town home(late October), I helped with all of the decorating, slept there on a daily basis, we got engaged a little over a month and half later (Dec) and I officially moved all of my stuff from my apartment to our house by March.

Needless to say, I did help pick out the dining room set. After 7 years, a move and now 2 boys, the set is still in good shape. It actually now sits in our formal dining area and is typically used at holidays or when we have company. Hence, why it is still in great condition. Recently, I had this great idea to spruce up the look of the set. I decided to reupholster the seats and add some color and life to the set.

And so the quest began to find material to cover it with. I need something durable. I scoured the fabric departments in Jo-Ann's, looked online and even a few speciality fabric stores, but couldn't find anything I liked. I decided to get creative and began looking at tablecloths, curtains and shower curtains. There are so many pretty and cool prints and patterns. For a few weeks every time I walked into a Target, Wal-Mart, Kohl's or anywhere that sold these items I would head straight to that department. Finally, after about a 5 week quest, I found a shower curtain in Marshal's that was perfect and the best part was the price, $14.99!

Now for the fun part, covering the seat of the chair. 

1. Unscrew the top of the seat from the legs of the chair. 

2. Find a large flat surface to lay out your material/fabric (pattern side down). I used the dining room table.

3. Lay the seat of your chair face down on the material. Cut enough material to cover seat, giving yourself 2-3 inches on each side to work with.

4. Using a staple gun, start stapling material to bottom of the chair. Wish I had taken pictures to show you this, my bad! Work your way around the seat pulling tight and stapling every inch or so. When it came to the corners, I folder the material as if I was wrapping a gift.  

Don't be afraid to take out staples as you go along to pull and re tuck certain areas. You want the material to be tight to the seat.

Once I finished the first seat, I had my system down. The other three seats were quick and easy to finish, each one taking about 20 minutes to cover. I love the new look of our chairs. I wish I would have done this sooner!