Upholstering Dining Room Chairs - AKA This looks easier on HGTV!

Jarrod brought four basic IKEA chairs to our marriage. Maybe you saw them when I showed off our awesome refinished table. They are nothing substantial, but they fit with the look of the table and they work for us. I dream of having bigger arm chairs at the end of the table and perhaps a bench someday, but for now, they are great. 

As soon as we refinished the table, we decided that we might want to upholster the chairs. We talked about going with a bright and vibrant pattern but eventually ended up going with this:

Sure, it's somewhat boring, but it works. It's textured and neutral. We found it when we were visiting our friends Renee and Mike in Atlanta. Renee asked if we wanted to go to a SUPER CHEAP fabric store. Yes, please! We purchased two LARGE remnants for $1 each. We weren't sure how much we would need and figured we better be safe and get two. We have about half of one and a whole other remnant left!

I am thinking about using the remaining material to line this purse. I know it's really a diaper bag, but it's really just a large bag with lots of awesome pockets! This fabric would be a great liner because it's thick and durable.

A few weeks ago we bought four foam pads from Hobby Lobby. The pads were about $3 each and on sale for 40% off. We opted for the 1" foam squares and I'm really glad we didn't go for anything thicker than that!

For the past few weeks the fabric and foam has sat on our dining room table taunting me. This weekend my dad is coming to town so we decided it was time to bite the bullet and upholster these chairs! On Monday night we didn't have anything else going on, so we decided it was the perfect night to get it done.

Before dinner I cut the fabric about the same size as the foam squares. After dinner I took to ironing the fabric and Jarrod removed the seats from the chairs. We're all about gender roles here at the Johnston house.

 

Oliver watching over the un-ironed fabric.

As Jarrod got started on the stapling, we quickly discovered a problem... The chair was not flat on the bottom, but had wooden supports necessary for attaching the seat of the chair back to the chair frame. (see bottom left corner of picture below)

 

After some problem solving, we discovered that the best bet was to remove the supports, staple the foam and fabric and put the supports back in exactly.the.same.place! It was more complicated than we thought, but Jarrod and I only argued a few times and only stopped for ice cream once, so I consider it a success!

This looks easier on HGTV!

That's as close to finished as you are going to see today. I haven't had a chance to take a good picture of the finished product yet. It was definitely a challenge, but for about $15 total and minimal irritation, I'd say it was a huge success. I have already threatened my husband within an inch of his life to not spill anything on them!