how to recover an office chair

I'm almost done outfitting my studio. Today I solved my sewing chair problem. My dream chair is the Eames Aluminum Management Chair from Design Within Reach in apple green leather.

At $1749 it definitely is not within in my reach.

What I have to work with is this cast-off office chair in battleship grey. Why do office chairs always come in such boring colors like taupe, grey, black? Even at IKEA, I couldn't find an apple green or orange office chair. I will recover this dingy grey one in... apple green of course!

If you don't already have a standard office chair to recover, you can get one cheap from a used office furniture store. They have scads of them.

Most standard-type chairs have a 2-piece back like this one attached to a vertical support with either fabric or plastic on the back side. This one has a spring-loaded pin that you push in from both sides and, presto, the back is off,exposing the metal piece that holds the front and back together. Once the screws are out, the two pieces need to be pried apart. I was unsure about this part at first. What if it is glued together? Turns out it's special nail-stapes securing it that you don't need when you put it back together.The screws hold it well enough.

Getting the bottom cushion off is just a matter of turning the chair upside down and unscrewing all the screws. If there's a chipboard board backing, just remove it and save it to staple back on at the end.

Next, the bazillions of staples holding the old upholstery on need to be pried up with a screwdriver and yanked out with pliers. Patience!

I use the old pieces of upholstery as patterns for the new fabric, but cut it leaving a little extra around the edges as fudge factor. For the back piece, mark and slit where the screw holes need to go. Make sure they line up with the holes when you staple on the new upholstery to the back.


The fabric I am using is Sunbrella 100% acrylic outdoor fabric that I picked up at The Interior Alternative in Newark, DE, a wonderland of off-price home decorating fabric. The Sunbrella line is bullet-proof and easy to clean, just sponge off with soap and water. It doesn't have much stretch, though, so I run a gathering stitch close to the edge all the way around to help it cup around my seat shape. 

Stretch the fabric as taut as as it will go and start with 4 stapes, 1 centered on each side. Work your way out from there, stapling liberally, easing out the puckers as best you can.

Now it's just a matter of screwing everything back together. New life for a sad old chair!