dining chair mini-makeover

A few months ago Mike and I moved into a new apartment. We still had the same dining room table that we bought from Ikea {for a steal at $89} that we used in our first STUDIO apartment. So once we got mostly settled in, and decided to add another couple to our weekly dinners, we knew we needed a new {bigger} table.

After spending most of my free time scouring the inter-webs, I finally found the perfect table, at the perfect price, on craigslist.org. It was listed for $225, and I knew that I could talk them down to $200. Well it turns out that Mike is an AWESOME, I mean super AWESOME negotiator talking them down to $180 for the table and four chairs. The table is cherry and has two leaves that pull out from under the table so it almost doubles in size! The other thing that makes it perfect is that it is narrow enough for the width of our apartment dining "room."

The chairs however were not quite perfect. I loved the chairs almost more than I loved the table, but the cushion fabric has seen a few too many diners, and needed to be changed, ASAP. We found fabric at Hobby Lobby that we both agreed upon, and I used a little DIY magic to give these babies a facelift.

 This is actually pretty easy, and once I got the hang of it it took me a total of 25 minutes to do each seat. What you will need is a chair {with a fabric covered seat}, staple gun, and staples, basic tool box {allen wrench, flat blade screw driver and pliers will do the trick}, scissors and your new fabric.

 Now you need to remove the seat from the chair {Violet wanted to help}, and the staples from the backing {this is where the screw driver and pliers come in}. I got lucky since the cushion and original fabric were in good shape, but with minor stains and a little too plain. If need be you can take off the fabric and get new foam and batting to get a comfy seat.

 Once the backing and all staples that were in the way were removed, I cut a square of fabric for each seat, with about three inches of extra fabric around each side.You then start on one side in the center, pull the fabric taught and staple. Move to the opposite side, and do the same. Make your way to the left side, and then to the right.The goal is to get the fabric tight, without pulling, and even. Continue to work your way around working your way from the middle of each side, out to the corners, leaving two inches on either side of the corners.

Now for the corners. There are many different ways that you can finish a corner, my way isn't that scientific, I played with the fabric until I got something that I think looked the best, and smoothest. I then stapled the heck out of it until I was sure it wouldn't move. Ever. After the corners were complete I trimmed of the extra fabric and stapled the backing onto the chair for a finished look. If you don't have a backing to replace you could always hot glue grosgrain ribbon over the staples to tidy it up. Last, but not least you reattach the seat to the chair.

 Easy as that! Such a simple fix, that makes a huge impact. Now, the table and chairs look brand new, and we could fit TEN people at the table of we needed to. Although, I don't see a huge holiday diner party in our near future.