Want to learn how to upholster the seat of your dining room chairs? Here’s how!
I have a fabulous tutorial for you today….. a step by step picture tutorial on how to upholster dining room chairs! upholstering dining room chairs actually a lot easier than i thought it would be. this was my first hack at any sort of upholstering and i think more upholstery is in my future. i thought it was really fun. and the chairs turned out perfect! oh and i guess using pretty fabric helped too. haha 
this is davis and i scored a nice dining room table with 6 chairs on craig’s list. very sturdy with great lines. but i really had my heart set on having soft dining room seating and really wanted some color on the seats for a change….. so we decided to upholster the chairs. and yes, davis helped me. we like to work on bigger projects like this together. makes for some fun memories!! {i.e. a paint fight, water war, etc}
HOW TO UPHOLSTER DINING ROOM CHAIRS
Supplies:
-fabric {i used 6 yards}
-1″ high density foam {you can also use cotton batting}
-staple gun
-staples {you’ll need a lot}
-foam adhesive {must be rated for foam. i used a spray foam adhesive found at the craft store}
-scissors
-cardboard
-screw driver
-turkey carver {optional}
1. first remove the seat from your chair using a screw driver. {be sure to put the screws in a place where you can find them later!}
2. using your chair seat, create a cardboard template that is 1/4″ bigger on all sides.
if your chairs are squarish, mark which is from and which is back. with mine, it is pretty obvious so i did not bother marking front and back.
3. using your cardboard template, trace and cut foam for each chair. *TIP: a turkey carver works great to cut foam! i could not find a turkey carver in stores yet {not quite turkey season yet!}, so i used scissors.
4. we applied adhesive to the top of the seat and to one side of the foam. you will want to follow the instructions on your adhesive and apply accordingly. it may be different than the one we used.
NOTE: I will admit, I tried to skip the adhesive . {commitment phobia. what if the upholstery didn’t turn out? then I’d be stuck with glue all over my seats….} but I found out the hard way that it is loads easier to adhere the foam to the seat….. it stays in place and makes the next steps so much easier! trust me. so learn from my mistake and don’t try to skip the adhesive.
5. as per our adhesive’s instructions, we allowed the adhesive to dry for a couple minutes before placing the foam on it. this gave us a permanent bond. be sure to follow the instructions on your adhesive.
6. determine what size of fabric you’ll need for each seat: measure the width of your seat across top and sides including the foam. {basically measure from the floor up over and across the width and down to the floor on the other side.} mine was 24″. then measure the front to back of the seat including the foam and the seat thickness. mine was 26″. add 4″ to each measurement. mine is 28″x30″.
TIP: make sure you know which measurement is for the seat’s width and which measurement is for the seat’s length. this helps when cutting fabric with a pattern or design.
7. cut your fabric in the size that you determined in Step 5. i cut mine to be 28″x30″.
TIP: be sure that you cut your fabric pieces with regards to the fabric print so that your design will be in the correct direction when you’ve applied it to the seat.
8. grab that staple gun and get ready for some fun! lay your fabric on a clean, flat surface and place your seat on top with the foam side down. start on one side and fold fabric over the seat. pull firmly, but not too tight. then place one staple between your fingers {be sure not to get your fingers!} so that you don’t get “staple pulls”.
TIP: do not staple next to your fingers. because when you take your fingers away, there will be lines or “staple pulls” in the fabric. {yes, we had to pull out a few staples…}
9. place one staple on the opposite side.
10. and a staple on the 3rd side.
11. and a staple in the 4th side. then go and fill in each side with staples. each time you place a staple, place one on the opposite side.
{sorry for the shoe in there. G-man decided the shot needed a shoe in it! lol and i didn’t see it until i was editing my pics. silly boy!}
12. staple the fabric until you have staples about every 1-2″. it should look something like this.
13. using your scissors, snip off the excess fabric in the corners leaving about 2″ to fold over to finish your corner as shown in the next step.
14. fold over your corner fabric and play with the pleats until you like how they look. then place 2-3 staples to hold in place.
TIP: make a mental note of how you did the first corner so that you can do the remaining corners the same. there will be pleats in your corners no matter how you do it, the key is to make all the corners look the same. {ok, so that’s easier said than done. i doubt no one will notice if all your corners are a little different. like mine.:}
15. staple the other 3 corners in place.
16. flip over your seat and ta-da! you have a beautifully upholstered seat. YAY! and adjust any sections with more staples as needed. {turning over that first one was scary and exciting. what had i done? did it work??} 
17. reattach the seat to the chair with your screws and screwdriver and you’re done!
way to go on upholstering your dining room chairs! that was easier than you thought it would be, right??
and if you have kids/pets, you may want to do this one last step….
i applied 2 coats of scotch guard fabric protector to the newly upholstered seats to help prevent stains…..because my boys do stains and messes real well!
{i got my fabric from The Ribbon Retreat.}
SNEAK PEEK: now for a quick sneak peek at my dining room in my new house………
i still have to finish a few things {and add a rug, etc} but its almost done! i’ll be sharing the complete reveal soon :)
currently i’m….
~getting ready to make these easy pumpkins!
~craving this pumpkin fudge!
I love this!
I was thinking about maybe doing this with Oil cloth as I have 3 kiddos under 5 at the moment.
What do you think? Can you in your crafting wisdom see any problem with doing this with Oilcloth?? :) :)
Great tutorial! I wish my dining room chairs could be upholstered, but alas, the seat doesn’t come off. oh well! Great job!
That stinks, Brittany!! Thanks for stopping by!
happy crafting,
Linda
They look great! Love the fabric!
Thank you, Charity!! :) it was love at first sight for me haha
thanks for stopping by!
Linda
wow! they are beautiful! I am in love with that fabric! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you, Shona!! it was love at first sight when i saw that fabric too lol
happy crafting,
Linda
Love how they turned out Linda! I’m in the middle of covering my living room chairs, and it’s a bugger. I wish I would have started with something easier like these. ;)
oh no, Kara!! i can’t imagine doing a living room chair!! this was easy, but what you’re doing is so much more complex. yikes! i’m sure it will turn out awesome because you’re awesome! ;o)
happy crafting,
Linda
same exact table! if only my hubby would agree to let me do something so drastic……..
it looks awesome!
no way!! we’re dining room table twinners! how cool. i’ll cross my fingers your hubby changes his mind! haha
happy crafting,
Linda
Great job, Linda! Mine will be a lot easier because my chairs already have padding; I just need to recover them. I bought some red fabric awhile ago, but I’ve changed my color scheme and need to buy something else. I’ll check out The Ribbon Retreat. Thanks!
I am just about to re-upholster my seats so it was great timing to see your method!! Mine are already soft seats so I’m going to just upholster right over what is there. For the corners, I will smooth the fabric together along the staples until my fingers touch at the corner and then lay the pleat flat and staple, then cut the long fabric at the corner.
I lOVE your fabric choice and the dining set. Thanks a million for the tutorial!
thanks, Kimbra! good luck with your seats!
Linda
Cuteness! Maybe I will have to go that too!
Yes!! you should, Erin!! :) thanks for stopping by!
Linda
I LOVE those! And I have been wanting to reupholster mine for a while…I may have to tackle this kinda soon! :) Have any ideas on how to take the old upholstry off?
Hi Brandi,
If they are dining chair seats, unscrew the bottom and then using a screw driver or staple remover, remove the staples on the bottom. If there is foam or filling that you want to remove, cut it off the best you can and then use Goo Be Gone or something similar to remove the adhesive that is left on the wood seat. If its a different type of upholstery, I’m not sure!
Hope that helps!
Linda
Oh my! Those look fabulous! I’m totally inspired to do this to our dining room chairs, too! Awesome tutorial and thank you for sharing!
thanks for stopping by sara! {yea i know this was from like 2 weeks ago. i’m slow like that haha} see you on twitter :)
happy crafting,
linda
I have the same dining table. I love it. I love it big and I love it small. I’ve been wanted to cover these but I was so worried about stains. Does the scotchguard really work? Over the years we’ve gotten a few scratches on the table top, so I’ve been trying to figure out how to make fix those. Looks great! How much foam did you buys?
Hi Karla,
I love the table too! I use scotch guard on my sofa and everything. It definitely helps! But you have to reapply once a year. Of course it can’t prevent every single stain, but it does help repel moisture. I used 5 yards of foam. {dang, forgot to put that in the tutorial! i’ll have to go add that}
thanks for stopping by!
Linda
Ok I’m going to try this in a few weeks! Wish me luck, I will need it :)
Good luck, Melissa! I’m sure it will turn out great!! Would love to see it when you’re done :)
happy crafting,
Linda
Holy nut, that looks fantastic! And much simpler than I was expecting. Or you just made it look easy. Hopefully it’s the first. Great tutorial. Once we get our house and everything moved in, I’m doing this. I’ll be back… {:
Thanks, Sisifo! It really is easy! I was scared at first, but it really isn’t that hard. Surprised me! would love to see how yours turns out!
happy crafting,
Linda
LOVE the way these turned out! Such a quick and easy project that has huge impact! Great job!
Thanks, Tabitha!! :)
happy crafting,
Linda
LINDa!!! You never disappoint! this is no exception! the chairs are beautiful and the tutorial couldn’t be better. I will pull it up on my laptop as I do mine! You’ve even inspired me to possibly paint my chairs first. We have a wood table and chairs we stained to match, but I’m kinda bored with the matchy thing. Now to decide which color to paint! ( A little more permanent than the seat covers will be!)
Also….the foam adhesive tip is much appreciated ! Love how we learn from YOUR mistakes!! LOL! :)
Oh, and the house looks gorgeous! those floors are to die for! can’t wait to see the reveal!
Hi Donna!
Thank you for the sweet comment! I appreciate it! :) Good luck with your dining table and chair makeover! I totally said that same thing about the upholstery not being permanent! haha that’s what gave me the courage to try it. I’ve debated whether to paint the table top black or not. can’t decide! I’d love to see how your makeover turns out!
happy crafting,
Linda
You did an amazing job on the upholstery. Love the fabric choice.
:) CAS
oh my word! this is amazing and has given me great hope of finding a new dining room set. I have been searching craigslist for about a year now trying to find exactly what we want but I guess it doesn’t have to be exact just close cause now I have the “know how” to redo the chairs! Thank you!
Thanks, Donna!! Craigslist can be so hit or miss. Good luck! Hope you find something!
happy crafting,
Linda
Upholstery! The hidden gem of crafting! So easy yet rarely done! Love the fabric, I just redid my chairs as well!
Thanks, Steph! I agree, it is a hidden gem! adds color and is fairly cheap to do.
thanks for stopping by!
happy crafting,
Linda
I LOVE this!! You are aaaaamazing!!
kisses
heather
By they way… how did you fair with Irene?
thanks, Heather!! we did ok with Irene. lost part of a tree and were only out of power for 2 days. phew!!
happy crafting,
Linda
Thanks so much for posting this great tutorial I can’t wait to try it out on my chairs!
Thanks for stopping by, Tania!
happy crafting,
Linda
They turned out fantastic!
Thanks, Melanie! I’m so glad you stopped by!
happy crafting,
Linda
I was thinking about using oil cloth to re-do my dining chairs. What do you think?
I have 3 kiddies under 5, so lots of spills and mess mess mess!
Hi Jenna,
I think Oil Cloth would work great! I don’t see why you’d have any problems using it. It would be perfect for little kids! thanks for stopping by :)
happy crafting,
Linda
oh my gosh – those turned out beautifully!! And I could totally do that too :)
Thanks, Karla! :) yes, you totally could! its pretty easy.
happy crafting,
Linda
I love the way they look! I will ask for permission to do my in laws chairs! hehe…. thank you for sharing! God bless you! have a beautiful and blessed day!
Love it, Saray! I’ll cross my fingers they let you! :)
happy crafting,
Linda
I always see these cute re-upholstered chairs and thought I was doomed to never having any of my own. I never just thought to add foam to the plain wooden chairs we have to be able to cover them with fabric. Thank you for the inspiration!
I just used that fabric in a quilt. Love it.
I didn’t know you could buy scotch guard?! Where can I get it? By the way, your chairs turned out beautiful! If only hubby was so adventurous in fabric choices…
whoa, this looks so easy! i’ll have to try it! unfortunately though my hand-me-down kitchen chairs with scratched seats do not have screw on/off seats. the legs and back of the chair all connect to the seat and i don’t think there’s a good way to unscrew everything. that being said, i’m definitely saving this for goodwill finds. i’ve been really wanting some barstools and this would be super cute. thanks!
Thanks Sarah! I’m glad you stopped by today :)
happy crafting,
Linda
Love you choice of fabric!
I have been looking for a good tutorial on how to reupholster a seat. Thanks for sharing this. The chairs look amazing!
Thanks, Erica! Hope my tutorial helped! Thank you for stopping by Craftaholics Anonymous. Hope to see you again soon!
happy crafting,
Linda
The end result is so fabulous – and seems so easy! Thanks for the tutorial. I have this dining room set and think it’s great. I’m jealous that you found a bargain on Craiglist. We had to buy it new from the store. Just thought I’d share in case you ever decided you needed more chairs, it’s called Cedar Heights by Ashley Furniture.
that’s awesome we’re dining room table set twinners! and thanks for the name of the line and where to get them! we actually do want to get 2 more chairs someday. so that is very handy to know. thanks for stopping by!
happy crafting,
Linda
chairs look great. No fair using cute baby though. lol
Oooh, they look gorgeous. Going to have to try this – my dining room chairs aren’t padded and the seat pads we bought to tie on are forever falling off!
thanks marie! i’m so glad you stopped by craftaholics anonymous!
happy crafting,
Linda
Your chairs are beautiful!! I love that fabric!
Kimberly @ THE BROWN EYES HAVE IT
thanks, Kimberly! thanks for stopping by Craftaholics Anonymous!
happy crafting,
Linda
Your chairs came out so awesome! This project is definitely on my list of things to do… I just need someone else to pick out the fabric for me!
thanks, jamie! picking fabric is the hardest part lol. thanks for stopping by!
happy crafting,
Linda
D Love it wat do u think about putting a clear hard plastic over it to protect the fabric and make em wipe-able?
i think that is a GREAT idea, Selena!
thanks for stopping by.
happy crafting,
Linda
Hi,
Great job and great material!!!
I have a suggestion that would have eased your anxiety over using the adhesive spray. If you use batting (the white stuff you using for quilting) between the foam and material you don’t need adhesive. You cut the batting the same size as the material. Attach the same way you did the material just don’t put near the amount of staples in it. Then do what you did with your fabric. The batting holds the foam in place. Also, with constant use sometimes, when using straight foam, it can wear down the fabric as the fabric kind of sticks to the foam and doesn’t “move”. With the batting it helps the fabric “move” and doesn’t wear out.
Great diningroom set! Very unique! I’ve never seen a leaf go down the long way on a table usually it’s crosswise. Very, very nice! Can’t wait to see the finished room.
Cathy
Hi Cathy,
Thank you for the wonderful info! Thanks for sharing! I was going to use batting instead of foam, but didn’t because I didn’t want lumpy seats. But I never thought to put it on top. When I get sick of my fabric and redo my chairs, I’m totally doing your idea! i’m so glad you stopped by and said hi!
happy crafting,
linda
Pretty fabric indeed. Pleats at the corners are not a given. After many upholstery projects I have learned how to make them not there.
sounds like you’re a upholstery pro! that’s awesome you can do it without pleats.
i’m so glad you stopped by!
happy crafting,
linda
LOL I was wondering where you got that beautiful dining room set. It is what I have been looking for will have to check Craigs list. You did a wonderful job covering the chairs.
thanks, pam! someone told me they have the same set and found it at The Room Store. Hope that helps! thanks for stopping by!
happy crafting,
linda
Very elegant and super easy! Thank you for sharing. This also works well in a window seat. I did one in my daughters room about 8 years ago when she was horse crazy. I wish I had done my dining room chairs, as well. Love all that you share here with others!
I saw this before and now I;ve decided to do a couple of mine. Thanks Linda LOL
I love this! Thanks so much for sharing. Your chairs are darling and now I have some hope for my kitchen chairs. Thanks, again!
Thank you, Cari! I’m so glad you stopped by. I really appreciate it. Have a great weekend!
happy crafting,
linda
Thanks for this! I got a vanity set recently with a chair that really needs cute upholstery. Now I think I can do it myself!
Is there any way I can do this without attaching the foam to the chair? The back corners of the chair are going to be very hard to do so I don’t want to attach the foam incase the corners are impossible to do.
Hi Regina,
Attaching the foam helps keep everything in place when someone sits down or moves around while sitting down. You may be able to get away without adhering the foam, it just won’t last as long. But make sure you pull the fabric really tight!
happy crafting,
Linda
I am in the process of re-upholstering our dinning room set and the only differences that I am making is I am using pinking shears on my edges and at Walmart they have thin clear vinyl for pennies on the dollar that I am placing over my fabric because I have 4 under 7! Love your tutorial!