Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 2: Preparing to replace the upholstery
• Part 2 of 2: Replacing furniture upholstery
• Tips
• Warnings

If the upholstery of your favorite furniture has fallen into disrepair, if you bought furniture for a good price, but its appearance is poor, you can completely change its appearance by changing its upholstery. Although this process will require a lot of time and effort from you, replacing the upholstery yourself will save you thousands (if not tens of thousands) of rubles and will give you the opportunity to get unique furniture that suits your taste and the interior of the house.

Steps

Part 1 of 2: Preparing to replace the upholstery

1. 1 Take quality furniture. Replacing the upholstery is a laborious and time-consuming process. If you try to work with low-quality furniture, you will come across the following. Firstly, the complexity of the process of replacing the upholstery will increase, and secondly, low-quality furniture, most likely, will not serve you for a long time, which means that your investment of effort and money will be pointless. Start by choosing quality furniture with unsightly upholstery.
   • Look for furniture made from sturdy wood rather than veneer or plywood. Strong wood will preserve the value of the furniture, while veneer and plywood are poor quality materials that will not last you long.
   • Examine furniture for squeaks, noises, and looseness. Turn the furniture around - if it is wobbling or makes extraneous sounds, it is likely that the structure itself requires repair, which means that this is not quite suitable furniture for replacing the upholstery.
   • Inspect the entire structure and determine if there are any damaged or problem areas. Nails / screws protruding or missing, broken planks or other elements, sagging and sagging - all of this indicates that the furniture will require much more work to restore than you plan to devote to it.
2. 2 Buy a large piece of quality upholstery. Although, in principle, you can use any fabric as new upholstery, most materials do not have sufficient thickness and strength, which will prevent you from lasting long. Therefore, look for a special upholstery fabric that resists abrasion and wear rather than using regular fabric. Also, keep in mind that the type of fabric will depend on the location of the furniture - although you can use regular fabric for upholstery that is rarely used, you definitely need to use thick and durable upholstery fabric for furniture that is often used (for example, a sofa) ...
   • For the reason that replacing upholstery is such a time-consuming and laborious process, choose a neutral fabric that will pass the test of time in terms of style. Thus, the upholstery will match your interior design longer than if you choose a bright and fashionable fabric.
   • If you choose to use a patterned fabric, choose one that doesn't require you to carefully fit the patterns together (like wallpapering) when you are upholstering different parts of your furniture. Of course, you can take such a fabric, but then keep in mind that it will take you much longer to put all the pieces of fabric in the right direction and place, in accordance with the patterns of the rest of the upholstery.
3. 3 Get all the tools you need. There are no special tools for replacing the cladding, but you will still need some tools. Prepare them to make your job easier. You will need:
   • A flat screwdriver (or a butter knife - this is for those who like a non-standard approach)
   • Pliers
   • A hammer
   • Construction stapler with staples (their length will depend on the thickness of the fabric you choose)
   • Sewing machine and related accessories.
4. 4 Prepare additional / optional means, tools, materials. Depending on the specifics of your project, the following things may not be useful to you, but under certain conditions they will come in handy. Go through the list of these things and see if they can be used with your furniture:
   • Cleaning products (especially for old sofas)
   • Cloth tubes to close seams / upholstery edges
   • Batting or other material for additional padding
   • Buttons (with upholstery needle and thread)
   • Cushion Zippers
   • Replaceable feet

Part 2 of 2: Replacing furniture upholstery

1. 1 Remove the old upholstery from the furniture. Slowly and carefully remove all paper clips / nails / screws securing the upholstery and place them where they will not get lost. Use a screwdriver or butter knife to remove the staples. When removing the old upholstery, do not cut it - you will need it when you cut the upholstery from the new material.
   • If you are removing the upholstery from the sofa, you will have to turn it over and remove the upholstery fasteners at the bottom and back.
   • Remove sofa cushions, if present. If the upholstery of the pillows does not have a zipper, you can use the new upholstery over the old fabric instead of removing it.
   • There is no need to remove the upholstery from the side panels (for example, on the sofa) - in most cases, in these places, the new upholstery can be put on over the old one.
   • Be careful not to cut yourself with paper clips and nails - with such cuts there is an absolutely real threat of tetanus.
2. 2 Clean furniture. After removing the old upholstery, you will find a lot of debris under it - before putting on new fabric, it is better to remove it. If you're working on a sofa, you might want to vacuum the insides, and spray with fabric cleaner on the cushions and filler to freshen them up a bit. To prepare the wood pieces, use a little wood oil or a special cleaner, and seal them off if necessary.
   • If your furniture is damaged or scratched, take the time to repair it and prepare for new upholstery.
   • If you want to varnish or paint your furniture, it is best to do so at this stage.
3. 3 Measure and cut the required piece of new upholstery. Lay out all the pieces of fabric removed from the furniture, and make sure you know what came from and where it was originally. Spread out the new upholstery, place the old pieces on top of it and trace their outlines. This will be your pattern and will allow you to cut all the necessary pieces for your project. After you have measured and delineated all the pieces, you can carefully cut them out, remembering to mark which piece of furniture will go to which place.
   • Use fabric scissors for smooth seams.
4. 4 Sew new upholstery where needed. Not all pieces of upholstery need to be hemmed; in fact, usually only the padding for the cushions and armrests (or where the fabric joins at the corners) is hemmed. Use the removed parts of the old upholstery and repeat by cutting out from the new one.
   • Use thread that matches the color of the fabric, or use transparent plastic thread
   • If possible, use an overlock so that the fabric does not fray over time.
5. 5 Use paper clips to secure the new upholstery to the furniture. Fasten one piece of upholstery at a time, lining the corresponding sections of the furniture. Use a construction stapler with appropriate length staples to secure the upholstery securely.To ensure that the resulting new upholstery settles smoothly, make sure to fasten each section evenly, without gaps or folds.
   • If you need to add an extra layer of batting or other padding, do so before attaching the new upholstery.
   • Some areas will need to be fastened using upholstery nails - you can tell by the way the old upholstery was fastened.
6. 6 Final touches. When you are about to attach new upholstery, do the final touches: hem the fabric tubes that hide the seams, put on the buttons, attach the legs removed from the furniture. At this stage, you have the opportunity to make changes to your design or add elements that were not there with the old upholstery. If you firmly decided that you are finished, inspect the furniture for flaws, check that everything is in its place - make sure that in this form it is ready to become a part of your home for a long time.

Tips

• If your new upholstery in the corners is too thick for a stapler, use canvas nails.
• Start developing your upholstery skills with small pieces of furniture that are simple in shape. The square seat from the chair is great for beginners.
• Get creative with your upholstery fabric. Choosing a fabric that is completely different from the original will awaken your creativity and also transform old furniture into something completely different.

Warnings

• Beginners are not recommended to work with leather and suede. These thick materials are very difficult to work with.
• When attaching the upholstery with a stapler or nails, make sure that all the patterns match each other (if they are on the fabric of your choice).