Give that Old Chair a New Lease on Life - Continued

Now I was doing well, the chair is easy to take apart.  Undoing the screws one by one, I placed them in a safe place to use again, when I put my chair back together again.  My chair seat came right off, in one large easy to manage section.

If you chair is nailed on I have been told that you can use the hammer to pry the nails out carefully – not to splinter the wood, pulling the nails straight out is best.  If the nail does not seem to want to come out of your chair seat easily with just the hammer, you may also want to consider grabbing the head of the nail with the pair of pliers and pull very hard to loosen the nail from the wood, and work it gently out of its place.

Now that my chair seat is off the chair, I examined how the fabric was exactly attached for a better idea of how I will want to arrange the fabric when putting the chair seat back together.  Depending on your particular chair – how old it really is, what type of fabric is on the chair, and whether the chair fabric is glued on or stapled on - you may find the fabric will easily pull away from the frame of the chair seat, or you may need the hammer and screw driver to lift the staples out of the wood.  I found this to be a rather simple process.  I had to use a hammer and screwdriver to remove a few of the toughest staples, but the remainder fell out with just a tug on the fabric. 

I was left holding this strange looking square wooden frame for my chair seat.  I took my padding and placed it over the chair seat frame.  Making a couple of measurement marks to cut accurately the shape of my chair seat.  My chair seat is more narrow in the back than the front, yours may be square, rectangle or maybe with a curve on the sides.  You will not want to trim excessively to the exact size of the chair because when you put the fabric over the padding you will want enough ‘extra’ padding around the sides of the chair seat so it is not uneven or flat. 

I then cut my padding, leaving about an extra half and inch over the sides of the chair seat outline the I had marked.  Placing the padding back on the chair seat frame to double check that I was comfortable with the cuts I had made, I then was ready to start on my fabric.  One note to keep in mind at this point, if you picked a fabric with a pattern or picture just make double sure you have the printed side facing the direction you are wanting to appear for the finished look. 

I had my chair seat frame sitting on the floor and I placed the padding on top of that.  I then took the fabric – right side up, and laid it loosely on top of the padding.  I cut my material about four inches larger than the chair seat itself. I your chair is thicker (from top to bottom of the chair seat frame) you may want to cut a larger piece to ensure you have enough material to wrap the entire seat and to be able to attach it to the bottom of the seat frame.  Double check your padding, that you have enough for a comfortable seat as you envisioned at the beginning of this project, you can add another layer if needed.  I then took the pile (of the material, padding and chair seat frame) and neatly turned it over.  Keeping my materials lined up I started to attach the fabric to the bottom of the chair seat frame.

I was careful not to pull to hard on the fabric, not to leave creases in my material.  I started my fabric in one corner, then the opposite corner until all four corners were attached.  I then was able to determine if I wanted to trim more of my fabric off or if I had just enough left to attach it to the frame.  There really is not a right and wrong procedure to follow here, as long as you keep you holes available to put the screws back in place, and that the fabric is secure to the chair seat itself.  If you are using a hot glue gun here instead of using a heavy-duty stapler, you may want to wait a few minutes until your glue is completely dry before continuing.  I now trimmed excess material from the underside of the chair seat.

I then was ready to attach the chair seat on to the chair itself.  Inserting the screws I had carefully placed aside earlier, into the holes from the chair to the chair seat, I had a great feeling of accomplishment as I tightened the screws and trim off the excess fabric.  As you finish giving life to your old chair, take a seat to rest and take a break in your new chair.