How To Tear Down A Chair So You Can Reupholster It

How To Tear Down A Chair So You Can Reupholster It


Upholstery is a popular do-it-yourself project for those who have tired of a certain fabric design, or who wish to repair stained or worn-out seats, backs and armrests. Before you re-upholster, though, you’ll need remove the old fabric — and there’s a method to this madness.

The video from Kim’s Upholstery demonstrates the process on an older wingback chair.

Shelly Leer of ModHomeEc believes that learning how to tear down a fully upholstered chair or sofa is crucial to learning the craft of upholstery. Most tutorials gloss over the ins and outs of a good tear down, but reverse engineering a piece of furniture is the best way to learn about furniture construction and upholstery techniques.

You’ll need a combination of needlenose pliers, rubber mallet, ripping chisel and staple remover. These tools will be used to pull staples and tacks out of wood and fabric. It’s also handy to take photos of every part of the piece of furniture you will be working on, so you can reproduce it exactly how it was before.

Start by labelling your chair with chalk using standard upholstery abbreviations. This will save you time and frustration after all of the fabric is removed.

There is a correct order to follow when removing a chairs fabric. Starting with the bottom dust cover (cambric) and then removing the back and sides. The inside back of the chair and the decking (below the cushion) are the last to go.

Check out more photos of this process from Shelly’s tutorial in the link below, as well as the video from Kim’s Upholstery above.

How to de Upholster a Wing Back Chair [ModHomeEc]


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