No more eating dinner on the couch

The end result

When we moved, we sold our tall dining table and chairs. The couple who bought our house wanted the set, and I was done with having a tall table and chairs with no cushions, so I was excited to sell it and look for a new one. I found a used Drexel Heritage set for $150, but when I went to pick it up, I found that the previous owner was a smoker.  Since I liked the chairs especially and had driven all that way, I decided to buy it anyway. I knew I would have to replace the fabric (an awful faded country plaid), but I was also concerned about the cushion itself. I didn’t want to risk the smell of smoke entering my house. I took off the fabric and cushions, and even though the seat frame didn’t smell, I sprayed it with an odor-blocking primer just to be sure.  My original idea was to not only reupholster the chairs, but refinish the table and chairs as well. I realized that would be a far bigger project than I wanted to undertake right now, so I just cleaned the table and chairs with a wood cleaner since they were a bit dirty.

I bought new 2 inch foam for the cushions, but wasn’t sure how to cut it. I heard that using an electric knife works best (like the ones used to slice meat), but I didn’t want to spend the money on one. I decided to use long retractable razor blades. We happened to have a few of those, and it worked pretty well. I had to sharpen the blades with my knife sharpener a few times and learned that an up and down sawing motion works best.

I found an outdoor fabric I wanted to use, but by the time I went back to the store to buy it, it was gone. I found the same print in an upholstery fabric, so for a little more money, I bought the print I wanted. I was a little disappointed at not being able to use the outdoor fabric. I had thought it would be the perfect fabric for a room where spills are inevitable. You can clean it with soap and water, and it’s made to withstand the elements, so I figured the occasional food or wine spill would be nothing. Oh well, the upholstery fabric is softer and I can spray it with scotch guard later if I want.

To “reupholster” the chairs, I used a staple gun and a hammer. No sewing machine necessary. I cut the fabric, laid it upside down, centered the cushion on the fabric upside down, and began stapling. I put in a few staples on one side (where the front of the chair would be), then pulled it tight the other direction and put a few staples in on the other side. I did the same thing with the other two sides. Now that the fabric was tight, I worked on moving toward the corners, being sure to pull the fabric tight with each staple. The corners were a little challenging at first, but once I got the hang of it, they were no problem. I folded the fabric under itself sort of like the way my mom taught me to fold the corners of my top sheet when making the bed. It turned out great!

The staples stuck out a little so I had to use a hammer to make them flush with the wood. This was actually the most annoying part of the project. Hammering on a piece of wood that’s on a cushion doesn’t work very well.

My last step was to screw the cushions back onto the chairs. My husband sat on the chair and I screwed it together (I needed the weight to hold the cushion down while I screwed it into place).

Now, we have a dining set that ended up costing $300 with all the supplies (foam isn’t cheap!) but looks amazing and is so comfortable. I can't wait to have a dinner party! Now what to do about that mirrored wall in the dining room…