Reupholstered Chair with a Curved-Back

Can you believe how much better this chair looks with new upholstery?? We ripped off the old and made it new! Let me show you some of the details of this gorgeous reupholstered chair!

On the Back Burner

This chair sat in my sewing/office room for over a year before I actually started to work on it. Some projects have to take a back seat to others and even though I couldn’t wait to start on it it had to wait.

Although this is not an in depth reupholstering tutorial, let me share with you some of the details of this transformation.

The first task was to remove all of the old upholstery fabric, burlap and batting. As usual, there were a ton of tack nails, staples and decorative upholstery tacks. Unfortunately, I don’t have images showing this process. Believe me, it’s not all that exciting! But read this post to see what tools you will need.

Honey–That wasn’t a bag of trash!

I saved the back channeled section of the chair so that I could use it as a template for the new fabric and stuffing. I put that section in a trash bag and left it in my workshop. Too bad my hubby thought it was a bag of trash! Agh!! O well, plan B will work!

Cleaning and Painting

When all of the fabric, batting and loose stuffing were removed, the chair had a good shop vacuuming and wipe down with a solution of Simple Green and hot water. It was filthy!

I will spare you the ugly chair stage of this process and skip to the painting! The frame of the chair would look gorgeous painted and then distressed because of the details the chair has. General Finishes in Linen was my choice along with their Winter White glaze to tone down the yellow of the Linen. Two coats of paint, one coat of glaze and then a bit of distressing to show off the carved details of the chair were just what this tired wood needed!

All the Curves!

The soft curved details in the arms of the chair are just so lovely! Craftsmanship of days gone by really speaks to me!

Let’s talk fabric!

I used heavy weight 10 ounce drop cloth like this one for the main sections of the chair. This drop cloth had been used on another project and I thought I had plenty……turns out I was wrong!

The toile on the back of the chair was a bit of an accident – I ran out of the drop cloth fabric and had to come up with a solution! Digging into my stash, I found this gorgeous red toile leftover from another upholstery project and it was just enough!

More Details

And how about those casters! I love the beaded detail at the top of the caster and the fact that the wheels themselves are wood. This caster wheel was worn down flat! I love that kind of history – someone really enjoyed this chair for years and years and it shows in this worn wheel!

Those flower carvings!!! I just can’t stand it!

You can see here that I used a jute upholstery trim to cover the raw edges. The painted wood, drop cloth fabric and toile are tied together with the use of the jute trim.

Reupholstered Chair and Ottoman

The back of this reupholstered chair makes such a statement! And did I mention I purchased an ottoman along with the chair? You will notice the legs of the ottoman do not exactly match the legs of the chair. But these two pieces have lived together for years and years and I wasn’t about to separate them now!

Using the same drop cloth, red toile and jute trim ties this ottoman to the chair.

Look at the gorgeous wood carving on the leg of the ottoman!

And that curved detail on the front of the ottoman! The red toile welt cord really highlights that curvy edge!

A Match Made in Heaven

Don’t you just love this set?? I can barely take my eyes off of it!

Btw, did you notice the adorable side table?? Yep, vintage suitcases just stacked on top of one another sitting on top of a shortened piano bench! Talk about storage!

This set took some time to finish but it was well worth it, don’t you think?

Thanks for Stopping By!

So glad you stopped in for this ‘tour’ of this chair and ottoman! Next time I have an upholstery project, I promise more directions!! Who knows, maybe even some videos of the process 😉

Feel free to pin this image! And I would love for you to follow along our reinventing journey on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!

Let me know what you think of this reupholstered chair — do you like the two fabrics together?? Comment below!