So, I know this seems like a big daunting project. You might have a piece (or pieces) of furniture you have been wanting to reupholster for years. You can do this. Seriously, you can. There is actually very little sewing involved and you get to use a Staple Gun, so that’s something. Don’t worry about all the steps, just methodically go through one step at a time and you can do it!

Once again, I’m no expert, and truly there are TONS of great tutorials out there on the right way to upholster/reupholster furniture. I would recommend reading a few of them and even watching some YouTube videos before you start. My purpose, and what I want to leave you with, is  to show you that if I can do this project, so can you!

So, we’ve gathered out tools and materials, given ourselves a little pep talk, and it’s time to get underway. Yay!

1.  Take pictures of your chair. Every angle you can think of. Pay special attention to different seams, and connection points. When you go to reassemble your chair, you will find yourself asking, now how did “they” do that again? If you document it well, this current piece of furniture is the best tutorial you could ask for.

2. As you take pictures of your chair, conduct a careful inspection and figure out what the last piece on was. Depending on your chair, it could be mesh on the underside, it could be the skirt (which was how mine was), or it could be the back panel. Whatever the last piece on was, will be the first piece off.

3. Deep breath, it’s go time! Figure out how to remove that piece that you determined was the last one on. It might be stapled or “they” might have used a metal piece called Pli-Grip (see pic below). For staples, I mostly used the flathead screwdriver and sometimes the mallet and/or pliers to get these out. I kept a small Tupperware container next to me to put all the removed staples in. If they used Pli-Grip, use your screwdriver to pry it away from the chair and then screwdriver/pliers to remove the tacks or staples used to keep the Pli-Grip in place.

4. As you remove each piece, take a Sharpie and label the crap out of it. I wrote what the piece was, right, left, top, bottom, etc. Again, the better you document now the easier it is going to be to reassemble it correctly later.    

5. Continue taking pieces off and labeling and taking pics. I also kept a list of the order I removed things, because again, the order you remove things, informs how you put it back together just in reverse. Keep everything, any little cardboard strips, piping, etc. Again, all important. Have I said that too many times?? 🙂

You will literally remove a kajillion staples. Yes, a kajillion. It may seem like the process will never end. But don’t worry, when you feel like you could build your house with number of staples you have removed, you are almost there. 🙂

–h