In this post, Indu Bheri, a regular reader of this blog, shares step-by-step instructions how she reupholstered a bench. She generously details the makeover. May I add she makes it sound easy to undertake one of our own. If you have been looking for some motivation to upholster your dining chairs ( I know I have) or bench, then grab this chance.
If I may admit I have always dreaded fabric projects.
Over to Indu now..
We have a dining table comprising four chairs and a bench. The table, bench and chairs are strong and in good condition but the faux leather on the seats started giving away. We used this for almost 10 years and I was contemplating if we needed a new dining set. I kept going back and forth and felt that’s unnecessary and we could do a makeover project for the bench. Took a trip to a fabric store and picked up a fabric from the clearance section ($7/yard, 2 yards).
What you’ll need to reupholser a bench:
- POWERSHOT staple gun
- Measuring tape
- Fiskars all-purpose cutting scissors
- Screwdriver
- Upholstering fabric
Cost of the makeover project: $15.15 for fabric
Time spent : about 2 hours
Steps to upholster the bench with new fabric:
1. Flip the bench. Husband helped in removing the seat cushion.
3. Measure the cushion; cut the fabric 2″ longer than the cushion on each side. I recommend the Fiskars all-purpose scissors for this as it is easy to cut all kinds of fabric. You can get yours on Amazon.
4. We decided not to remove the faux leather as there were several staples and instead wrapped the new fabric on the old one. Place a strong plastic on the faux leather before stapling the fabric so it doesn’t cut onto the underlying surface.
5. Use the staple gun to staple the fabric onto the board. We stapled every 8-10” inches first to make sure all fabric is tucked in tight. The corners can get a little tricky. Do it a few times and you will be able to tuck it in without folds.
6. It’s time to reveal. We flipped the cushion to make sure its all nice and uniform. Next we stapled the black cambric dust cloth onto the cushion and it’s time to put the cushion on the frame. Secure the screws in place and we have a stunning new bench.
Thank you Indu for sharing this furniture makeover with us.
