Folding Chair Rehab

 

John and I recently received an antique table that my Granny no longer had space for.  It's beautiful!  But, the chairs that came with it were pretty ugly (and not antiques).  We sold the chairs off, but short-sightedness has left us with only folding chairs sitting around our dining table!

They're pretty beat up

And the seats are pretty dated

Not too cute.  So, I decided to do a little rehab on the chairs and make them look like new!

To do the same, you will need:

• Sandpaper
• Rust-proof spray paint
• Fabric
• Staple gun and staples (as small as you can get- 1/4 inch or so)
• Fabric shears
• Screwdriver

First, sand down your chairs. I like to do this outside so that I don't have to deal with cleaning up the paint and metal bits that come off while sanding.

Now, hopefully your old folding chairs will have their seats attached with screws.  Just undo the screws and pop out the seats!  But, if you're unlucky like I am, you have a seat that is riveted to the chair.  Rivets.  Seriously.  But don't worry!  If you find yourself with riveted seats, use a small drill bit to drill all the way through, then a large one to drill away the rivet.  It should pop off after that!

Next, you'll want to take your sanded chairs and spray paint them the color of your choice.  I stuck with black.  It's timeless, right?

Allow the chairs to dry.  While they're drying, take the seats and use them as a guide for cutting squares of fabric.

Then, simply staple the fabric around the edges of the seat.  Start on one side, then do the opposite side.  This prevents big wrinkles on the seat.

Trim the excess fabric.

Pop the seat back into its frame, and reattach the screws.

Done!  And so much better than before!