Dining Room Chairs re-do {A tutorial}

 There comes a point when you look back on your decorating decisions and wonder "what was I thinking?"  Hindsight is always 20-20.  In our case, we were young, newly married and we hadn't had any kids.  We liked the table and chairs and we went with it.  Unfortunately, the chair cushions were white and did not stay white for very long.  So, for years we have hosted and fed so many people on these chairs. . . that were kind of embarrassing.  My friends who are reading this are probably shaking their heads in agreement!

So first lesson:  never buy white cushioned chairs when they will be around food . . . or kids.   It just doesn't work.  Now, if you have some magical potion that you would like to share that takes spaghetti and chocolate stains, or even water stains from wet swim suits out of white chair cushions, please share.

Our dining room set, like a large percentage of our furniture, comes from the magical place of IKEA.  Honestly, if you are decorating on a budget, this is really the place to go.  We've had this set for about 10 years and it still looks wonderful. . . minus the white cushions.  I really didn't want to spend money new chairs, so when the hubby gave me the go-ahead (we have been talking about this for several years), I headed to our local Joanns Superstore armed with coupons.

Second lesson:  Take advantage of JoAnns for their coupons.  Download the app, check their website, and sign up for the mailers.  You can use them all!  (Hobby Lobby and Michaels only let you use one coupon per purchase/day) .

In this case, I only needed one coupon because I was just buying 2 yards of fabric and since the coupon was per cut, one coupon was all I needed.  I think I actually didn't even use a coupon because they were already on sale for 40 percent off.

We used this home decor fabric that comes on the big rolls. . . I think the rolls are almost as tall as me.  I could be mistaken.  Anyways, they are big.  They are thicker that regular fabric (you aren't probably going to make a quilt or a dress out of this stuff!) and runs between 20-40 dollars a yard.  So, coupons and sales are you friends.

I picked out some fabric by Nate Berkus (you know the guy who Oprah made famous?).  I loved the pattern and thought it would look really good against our blue walls (it does!).   Even better, it is specially made to be stain resistant.  Score!

So, here's how you do re-do your chair cushions.

Step 1:
Unscrew the cushions from the chairs.  Keep your screws in a zip lock bag so you can use them to put them back in their rightful spot when you are done.

Step 2:
Lay out your fabric and lay a yucky cushion on top.   See how gross they were!  Cut around it making sure you have enough to go under. . . about 2-3 inches depending on the cushion.  You can always trim after you are done with the stapling.

 Step 3:
 Set your yardage of fabric aside and place the cushion upside down on the fabric (also upside down).  You want at least 2 inches overlapping so it can wrap around. 

Step 4: 
Staple corners with the staple gun.  Make sure you pull them tight. 

Step  5:
Continue stapling all the way around, making sure you are pulling it tight (you really don't want loose cushions).   Also, make sure to pay attention to where your screw holes are so that you don't accidentally staple into that hole. 

 Step 6:
Turn over and admire your handy work.  Keep doing this with all the chairs, making sure your fabric faces the same way for each cushion.  I didn't want my diamond print to be different on all the chairs. 

Step 6:
Screw the cushions back into the chair and enjoy!  Now, invite some friends over for dinner and enjoy not having stained cushions. 

 This project cost about $40, which was way cheaper than buying new chairs.  I mean, chairs are probably the most expensive part of buying a table . . . even at IKEA.

Dining room table
Chairs no longer available, but similar ones here
fabric

Happy Crafting!