Repair 

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If you find that an old chair is completely worn out, do not rush to throw it away. Often old pieces of furniture bring with them pleasant memories of people and events in the life of your family. And to be honest, before furniture was made for centuries ...

Therefore, the restored chair may well serve not only you, but also your children. Just by changing it appearance, you can return the furniture to its former attractiveness and novelty. Fortunately, there are many options now. Everything will depend only on your imagination.

How to update an old chair? Precleaning

To begin with, the surface of the chair must be cleaned of the old coating, whatever it may be. If there is a soft seat upholstery, it must first be removed. To do this, it does not necessarily require "male power". Try turning the chair upside down and you will see that the seat is held in place with screws that need to be removed. To do this, you need to arm yourself with a hammer (for knocking out the seat) and a screwdriver (straight or Phillips).


Now you can start removing the old coating. To do this, you can use the usual "sandpaper" of different grain sizes or a grinding sponge. It is important to sand the surface of the wood well. This will help to easily apply the coating of your choice in the future. Needless to say, this job is not easy.

But it is possible to simplify the process a little by periodically moistening the surface to be treated. This way you can get rid of the dust. Just do not be afraid that the old varnish becomes viscous from moisture. This is fine. After the chair is completely dry, you need to once again sand the entire surface well with fine “sandpaper”.

How to update an old chair? All right

Now it all depends on your imagination. If you decide to varnish the surface of the chair, then you need to use a colorless primer so that the texture of the wood is clearly visible through the protective layer. A layer of primer will have to be used in any case. Even if you decide to paint the chair later.
The fact is that the paint lays down better and lasts longer if the surface is pre-primed.
It is necessary to cover the surface with varnish in two layers. It is important that the first layer is well dried before applying the second. The varnish can be applied with a brush or sprayed on the surface.


You can paint the chair in any color. Now furniture is considered very fashionable. white color. And the upholstery of the seat can be chosen in contrast. Now there are many ways to show originality. For example, use a stencil. Let it be flowers or any other ornament.
Another way to cover the surface of the chair is with beeswax balm. The surface is also pre-sanded and primed with drying oil. Then cover with a thin layer of balm with a cloth. After twelve hours, the surface is polished with a brush.


Now you can start restoring the upholstery. The old one must be removed. Previously, it was attached to the seat with ordinary nails. You will also have to get rid of the foam rubber. It is necessary to cut a new one according to the old standards. The fabric needs to be cut with a margin for hem. Upholstery material can be very different: as a special fabric for upholstered furniture, and ordinary linen or thick cotton. It is better to fasten the fabric with a furniture stapler. But if you don't have one, don't worry. You can use ordinary nails by nailing them with a hammer. It is important to remember that the material must be well stretched on all sides.
Now the seat can be inserted into its original place and fastened with screws.

Upgrade an old chair with a slipcover

Is there another way to update old chair- use a cover. It can be made from any fabric, hiding defects and imperfections without major intervention. The cover can be with a variety of frills, ruffles, bows, tassels ... You can make several options. Festive option and everyday. Show your imagination! Don't rush to throw away old furniture, try to become a designer, we are sure that you will succeed!















































So do not rush to get rid of it. Using your imagination and our tips, you can make a new set out of this furniture. In this homemade product, we will tell you how to make original bench. This option is not only convenient, but also very interesting. You can put such a bench in the courtyard of the house or in the country. The original bench will become an unusual piece of furniture.

For the manufacture of this homemade product you will need the following materials.

materials
Old chairs (4 pcs);
Band saw;
Jigsaw;
Drill and drill bits for wood;
Dowels (wooden);
Paint and varnish remover;
Joiner's glue;
Putty knife;
Varnish on wood;
Dye;
Brush;
boards;
Meter;
Marker;

Step 1.

You must first take two chairs and carefully remove the horizontal racks that are in front of the seat.

Step 2

Now we take the remaining chairs. With the help of a meter and a marker, you need to make a mark where the cut line will go. This line should be slightly lower than the front seat post. Take the saw and carefully cut the legs along the marked line.

Step 3

At this stage, it is necessary to remove the old varnish and paint from the chairs. To do this, apply an even layer of a special tool for this work. Wait for the required time (it is indicated by the manufacturer of the product). After the required period has elapsed, carefully remove the old coating. To facilitate the work, you can use a spatula, as well as sandpaper (fine-grained)

Step 4

Now you need to drill holes for the dowels in the racks from the front and end sides. First you need to make a mark with a marker where these holes will be. Then take a drill and drill holes.


Step 5

Take the dowels and insert them into the resulting holes. Before that, be sure to grease the dowels with glue (carpentry)

Step 6

After the dowels are firmly glued, it is necessary to assemble the future base of the bench. This must be done as shown in the photo below. All components of the bench are fastened together with self-tapping screws. After that, the entire surface of the bench is sanded again.


Step 7

On the this stage we will make a bench seat. For this we need a board. The board should be adjusted to the size of the bench. It is necessary to mark the desired length, and cut off the rest. Back height is up to you.

Step 8

If you decide to make a seat from several boards, then they must be glued together with wood glue. After that, the entire structure should be clamped with clamps and wait until the entire structure is completely dry.

Step 9

Now you need to glue the seat to the base of the bench. Lubricate the base and the seat itself with wood glue. Put weights on the board, and also clamp it with clamps.

Step 10

Wait for complete drying. After that, take masking tape and paste over the surface of the seat with it. The remaining parts of the bench should be painted with special paint for wood.

How to make a bench from old chairs? We tell.

In this tutorial, we are using four old chairs. We need two of them almost entirely, from the remaining two it is convenient to saw off the parts missing to get the bench. In general, two chairs are enough, but then you will need additional boards.

If the chairs are very old and have already started to fall apart a little, then choose the two most durable of the four. From the other two, we need the front crossbars. The photo shows which ones. They can either be sawn off or untwisted if the design is prefabricated.

From the two main chairs you need to saw off the front legs. For convenience, you can outline the line along which you will cut.

Before we start assembling, we need to get rid of old paint. To do this, you need a paint thinner. Buy any at a hardware store and follow the instructions on the package. For convenience, lay a piece of unnecessary tarp, old newspapers or film as a work surface. Be sure to wear rubber gloves before applying the solvent. Don't forget to apply thinner to the boards we prepared to connect the chairs to the bench.

Soak the solvent for the time set according to the instructions. To remove old paint, use a spatula, metal is better.

Let's do the assembly. Use furniture dowels to attach boards to chairs. Carefully mark the location of the dowels with a marker and ruler so that all holes are on the same level. Wrap the drill with masking tape to track the desired hole depth.

For a more secure fastening of the dowels in the holes, use wood glue.

In order to make the structure more durable, add in the middle of the bench wooden beam. Measure the distance between the chairs, cut the beam to the desired length and secure it with screws. After assembly, it is necessary to do surface grinding. Use sandpaper or a grinder.

Now you need to make a seat for the bench. You can either buy timber in the store or use the remnants of old ones left in the garage from past work. Lay the bars on edge on the bench to understand how much you need.

We glue the beams together with wood glue. Clamp with clamps and leave for a day.

Now we need to trim the edges of the seat surface to the shape of the chairs. In our case, they are rounded. We outline a pencil line and use a jigsaw to saw off an unnecessary part.

Place the seat on the chairs and secure them with screws. You can only use wood glue, then after gluing put some weight on the seat. But screws will be more reliable.

Sand the seat surface after finishing work. Now it remains only to paint the bench. For the construction of the chairs, use the paint, having previously covered the seat with a film and sealed the sides with masking tape. Paint the seat itself. If you have different beams, as in our instructions and it looks aesthetically pleasing, then you can use a clear varnish. Leave the bench for a few days until completely dry.

There can be a great many reasons to update old chairs or decorate new ones with your own hands. This is the need to adapt furniture to the interior, the desire to correct design flaws, restore chairs inherited from the grandmother or found for nothing at the flea market. In this article, we will talk about 4 ways to transform your “four-legged friends” (including office and garden chairs) beyond recognition, and also present 70 cool photo rework ideas.

Method 1. Painting a chair

Even the most old-fashioned or just ordinary chair, say, a "Viennese" wooden, plastic, folding or office chair, can be transformed with the help of staining. The main thing here is to choose the right color. Here are some inspiring examples where color alone saved furniture from landfill.

Old Viennese chair before and after renovation

A few more examples of reworking the most common bent beech Viennese chairs, which can be found in almost every house or cottage.

And here are some cool ideas for painting stools.

Inspired? Then let's get down to practice!

To paint a chair you will need:

  • Acrylic paint, and preferably chalk paint in one or more colors;
  • Synthetic flat brushes (separately for primer, paint and varnish);
  • Protective gloves (it is better to buy at a pharmacy);
  • Primer for wood / metal (depending on the frame material);
  • Wax or matte varnish (polyurethane or acrylic);
  • Sandpaper of medium and fine grain.

How to paint a chair with your own hands:

  1. Prepare the chair for painting: wash it to remove coarse dirt and dust, then sand it with medium-grit sandpaper to remove the top layer of old varnish or paint. The surface should be slightly rough.

  • If you want to update a metal chair, then it is not necessary to sand it (although it is still safer to sand the top gloss), but before priming / painting, the frame must be degreased with white spirit.
  • Also, you can avoid the tedious sanding step if you use chalk paint, but you can’t do without a primer.
  • If your stool is varnished, then it can be removed special tool for removing varnish.
  1. If the chair has damage, such as scratches, chips and cracks, putty them with furniture putty.

  1. Wipe the chair from dust, wait for it to dry and apply a primer on the entire frame in two layers, allowing each layer to dry for about a day. Between coats, it is advisable to sand the primer with fine-grained sandpaper (No. 220 is suitable).
  2. Take a new brush and paint the chair in 2-3 coats, letting each coat dry completely. Make sure that the paint does not form smudges.

  • If you want to paint a chair with a scuffed effect, then first some places (for example, on the edges of the seat, back and armrests) need to be painted with a dark paint, say dark gray or dark blue, and then waxed over them. Next, you should paint the chair with the main paint in 2-3 layers. And, finally, having slightly worked with a fine-grained sandpaper, expose the dark “substrate”.

  • Do you want to achieve the effect of the perfect factory painting? Then be patient: each coat of primer and paint (with the exception of finishing layers) will have to be sanded with fine-grained sandpaper. So the coating will turn out to be as even and reliable as possible.
  • To paint only certain parts or parts of the chair, use masking tape.
  1. Treat the chair with wax or matte varnish. Voila, your "four-legged friend" has found a new life!

Helpful Hints:

  • Don't know what color to paint the chair? You can't go wrong if you paint it white, because this color is the most versatile, goes well with any bright upholstery;
  • Before staining, stucco decor can be glued to the back of the chair using wood glue;
  • Achieve the effect of a very old and dirty chair in Provence style, you can use dark brown wax;
  • Chalk paint is a relatively new type of paint that is not yet commercially available. However, we recommend using it, because due to its density, increased adhesive properties and super-fast drying (in 30 minutes), it saves a lot of time and effort. In Russia, you can buy chalk paints from designer Daria Geyler, and in Kazakhstan - at Vernenskaya Manufactory. Also, you can always order paints from foreign manufacturers - Annie Sloan and Rustoleum.

It’s better to figure out how to paint an old chair with your own hands this video master class will help you.

Method 2. Seat upholstery

Most often, if the chair has a soft seat, then painting the frame is not enough to completely update it - you need to change the upholstery. Here are some photo examples of how upholstering a seat can turn an old chair into a stylish piece of decor.

Office chair before and after painting, reupholstering the back and seat

By the way, if your chair or stool does not have a soft seat, then you can make it yourself: first, cut out the MDF base exactly according to the shape of the seat, then, following our master class, upholster it and, finally, screw it onto the chair frame with screws.

To make a soft seat for a stool, it is enough to glue the foam rubber directly onto the base, and then cover it with a cloth, hammering the stapler staples onto the inside of the seat.

Upholstered stool

For work you will need:

  • Anti-stapler (or its alternative);
  • Furniture stapler and staples with a height not exceeding the thickness of the seat base;
  • Textile;
  • Foam rubber about 4 cm thick;
  • Batting or synthetic winterizer;
  • Scissors;
  • Knife-serreytor for bread (with teeth);
  • Screwdriver.

How to reupholster a chair with your own hands:

  1. First we need to remove the seat from the chair frame with a nail puller or a screwdriver.
  2. We remove the old upholstery with an anti-stapler and remove the filler if it is dilapidated (if it is in good condition, then it can be reused). Next, wipe the base of the seat from dust and dirt.
  • If wooden base seat seems too old and unreliable to you, use it as a template to cut a new seat out of plywood.
  1. We put the seat on the foam rubber, trace its outline and cut it out.


  1. We cut the fabric and batting in such a size that they can wrap all sides of the seat (along with foam rubber), leaving 10-15 cm free. These surpluses are needed to make it more convenient to stretch the material.
  2. So, we got four blanks: base, foam rubber, batting / synthetic winterizer and fabric. Now we need to put it all in a sandwich. First of all, we spread the batting, put foam rubber on it, and on the foam rubber - the base of the seat with the wrong side up. Next, we simply bend the edges of the batting onto the seat and, slightly pulling the material, fix it with a stapler. The corners of the batting can be cut off, or you can simply bend and fasten in the same way.

How to restore a chair seat

  1. After all the batting is attached to the seat, trim off the excess.

  • If desired, the foam rubber can be pre-glued to the base or stitched around the perimeter with a stapler, retreating 5 mm from the edge of the seat.
  1. The most crucial moment has come - the stage of reupholstering the seat with a cloth. Spread the fabric inside out and place the seat on it. Next, fold the edges of the fabric along one of the sides and fix with a stapler. Now stretch the fabric slightly over the opposite side of the seat and fix it with a stapler in the same way.


Repeat the procedure on the remaining two sides and proceed to the design of the corners - they need to be wrapped as shown in the photo below.

Chair after restoration

  1. We return the seat to its place and fix it with "native" fasteners.

Helpful Hints:

  • The upholstered seat of the chair can be additionally decorated with furniture carnations around the perimeter.
  • Upholstery fabric should be selected in accordance with the style of the chair. So, for example, for modern chair traditional jacquard fabric will not work, and a classic chair with an elegant back is unlikely to “make friends” with a fabric with a trendy geometric print.
  • The same fabric from which your curtains are sewn is ideal for upholstery of a chair. In the interior, such a coincidence will look very harmonious.
  • The print on the fabric may overlap with the carved crossbars as shown in the photo below.

For a more visual master class of upholstery of an old chair seat, see this video.

Method 3. Decoupage of a chair with paper

Do you want to decorate a chair with a cool print or cover up minor defects like scratches and stains with drawings? This can be done using the decoupage technique.

chair decoupage idea

chair decoupage idea

chair decoupage idea

chair decoupage idea

You will need:

  • Any paper with the desired print, for example, it can be multilayer napkins, pages from magazines and books, maps, posters, wallpapers, etc.;
  • PVA glue;
  • Brushes 2 pcs (for applying glue and varnish);
  • Scissors;
  • Transparent matt varnish acrylic or polyurethane;
  • Water (if necessary);
  • Roller for working with large formats.

How to update decoupage chairs:

Step 1. Clean the chair from dirt and stains, paint if necessary, following the first instruction in the article.

Step 2. Cut out the fragment that you need from the selected polygraphy. The workpiece can be either large (for example, in the shape of the seat and back) or very small.

  • If you are using napkins, then first you need to separate the top layer with a pattern and only then cut it out.
  • If you want to cover the whole chair, including the legs, the paper needs to be randomly torn into small pieces of about 10x10 cm, as shown in the next photo slider.


  • To decoupage the back and seat, they must be removed from the chair frame with a screwdriver, and then used as a template for cutting the workpiece (see photo below).

Step 3 Lubricate the place you want to decorate with PVA glue liberally and attach your drawing to it, then smooth with a brush with the remaining glue, releasing all air bubbles and smoothing out the wrinkles.

  • If the cut out print is small, then it is better to grease not the chair, but the reverse side of the workpiece itself with glue.
  • If the paper is very dense, then it needs to be moistened a little in water - so it will become more plastic.

  • A top layer of adhesive is not required but is often desirable (it should be thin anyway).

Step 4. Repeat step 3 with other parts of the chair and leave the glue to dry for about a day.

Step 5: Cover Decorated Areas or the Entire Chair clear varnish 4 coats, letting each coat dry completely. Ready!

Method 4. Decoupage of a chair with a cloth

It would seem, how else can you radically modify the chair with your own hands, except by painting. In fact, there is another cool way - decoupage with a cloth.

  • A chair updated in this way will last a surprisingly long time even under heavy loads. And if individual threads are knocked out of the fabric along the edges of the chair, you can simply cut them off and process them with a layer of PVA glue.

Decoupage idea for an old chair

You will need:

  • Textile;
  • Wooden chair;
  • PVA glue or special glue for decoupage;
  • Sharp clerical or dummy knife;
  • Brush for applying glue.

How to update a decoupage chair:

Step 1. Using a screwdriver, remove the back and seat from the chair. If you want to paint the chair, do so before taking it apart.

Step 2. Spread the fabric on a flat surface, put the seat on it and circle it along the contour, stepping back about 2.5 cm from the edge, then cut out the blank.

Step 3 Coat the outside of your seat with PVA glue, then place the fabric over it and smooth it out. Once the fabric is leveled, coat it with PVA glue and leave to dry overnight.

Step 4 When the fabric is dry, make sure it is completely stiff. Next, cut off the excess fabric with a sharp knife exactly along the edges of the seat.

Step 5. Now again treat the perimeter of the seat with PVA glue to prevent wear at the edges.

STEP 6. Repeat steps 2-5 with the back of the chair and other details you want to decorate and finally put the chair back together. The main condition for the successful restoration of the chair is that the pattern must exactly repeat the shape of the surface to be decorated.

Here are some more photo ideas for decorating a chair with fabric.

Decoupage of an office chair with a fabric with additional protection with polyurethane varnish

Decoupage ideas for stools