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One of the quickest refreshes you can give a piece of furniture is to reupholster it. I’m a big fan of taking quality furniture pieces and simply having them recovered for a brand new look. While I don’t have the sewing skills to reupholster something as big as a couch, a simple bench or chair seat is a snap to do – no sewing required!
As part of our daughter’s room makeover, I needed to update her vintage vanity seat to better match the room. This vanity has sentimental value, so I wanted to make it work for her new decor. The French-Provincial style was a perfect fit for her cottage bedroom, but just needed a little tweaking to blend in. Here’s what it looked like before:
Reupholstering Supplies
This is a very basic reupholstery job, and doesn’t require any special tools at all. You’ll need:
- Fabric of your choice (heavy-duty or upholstery weight for durability)
- Scissors
- Hammer
- Iron/Ironing Board
- Upholstery tacks OR staplegun (I chose tacks because that’s what had been used last time this seat was recovered.)
- Screwdriver
Decide On Fabric
Before you get started, decide what kind of fabric you will want to use to reupholster your bench seat. I had some scraps left over from my laundry sink makeover a few years ago, so that’s what I chose. This cottage-style bedroom has lots of patterens in it, and the subtle stripe worked perfectly.
Step 1: Iron Your Fabric
Not fun, I know. But you must do this to make sure your fabric lies flat when you tack it.
Step 2: Disassemble The Seat
You will need to flip your bench/chair over, and unscrew the seat from the frame. A screwdriver or drill will make this a snap.
Step 3: Remove The Old Fabric
This is honestly the most tedious part of reupholstering anything. Because this seat had previously been recovered using upholstery tacks, I simply used a flat head screwdriver to pry them up. If your piece had previously been stapled down, it may take some elbow grease to remove them all.
Fun surprise: see all the layers of previous upholstery hiding underneath:
Step 4: Cut Fabric To Size
Lay your new fabric face DOWN (if it isn’t woven on both sides) on the floor, and place your bench cushion seat DOWN on top of the fabric. You will be looking at the unfinished bottom of your bench and the ‘ugly’ side of your fabric. Cut around the bench, giving yourself 3-4″ of fabric overhang to wrap around the seat. If the previous fabric is thin enough, you can leave it on and wrap the new fabric right over it.
Step 5: Begin Tacking/Stapling Fabric Sides
Now you can start tacking the fabric around your seat. Begin in the middle of one side and tack along the edge, leaving the corners undone for now.
Once you have one side completed (less the corners), begin tacking on the OPPOSITE side of the seat, pulling firmly as you go. You want to pull the fabric tightly so ensure a smooth finished look.
Step 6: Folding and Tacking Corners
This is probably the trickiest part of the whole project, but I promise you it isn’t hard. Once you have all four sides of your seat tacked, it’s time to fold and tack the corners down.
Begin by placing tacks on either side of your corner, leaving the excess fabric out.
Then, neatly fold the excess corner fabric straight down and tack it to the seat. To keep things super tidy, you could iron the corner down so it has nice sharp edges. I chose not to do this, but you can if you want.
Step 7: Reattach Upholstered Bench Seat
The last step is to simply reattach your seat to its frame. Flip the newly reupholstered seat AND frame upside down and reattach the seat to the frame. Stand it back up and admire your newly recovered bench!
Reupholstered Furniture: A Quick Fix For A New Look
Such a simple DIY, right? With some basic supplies and a little time, you can reupholster a bench seat into something that better matches your decor. Use this same technique on dining chairs, footstools, ottomans, and more for a custom look without the custom price tag. What will you reupholster first? Happy Nesting!
