Restoration of chairs with improvised means. How to make a professional restoration of chairs with your own hands using improvised means? It's quite easy! Restoration of wooden chairs

In my coral room, everything has been in its place for a long time: above the bed - instead of a bicycle -. And only the old chair was an eyesore to me. Finally, I got around to restoring it: paint and reupholster the seat.

I talk about how I did it and share the process. Perhaps this story will inspire some of you to update your furniture.

A few years ago, I read a post on the A Beautiful Mess blog about a dining room remodel. I remember the different chairs that they put together, painted with bright yellow paint, and due to the same color, the chairs began to look very harmonious and original. Since then, these yellow chairs have not left my head.

Please note that I am not a restorer and the process that I describe should not be used to restore antique pre-revolutionary chairs. In this case, it is better to contact a professional. But if you have old Soviet chairs lying around that are a pity to throw away, then you can update them and give them a new life.

To restore a chair with your own hands, you will need:

• newspapers to protect the surface;

1. Remove the seat and sand the surface

I didn't use a special primer, just removed the seat from the chair (it can be attached with nails or screws) and sanded the entire wooden surface of the chair with sandpaper.

2. Paint the chair with paint

An important question is what paint to paint the chair with. Very simple: I came to the store and asked the consultant for advice on what kind of paint would be suitable for painting a wooden chair. I was advised semi-matt Tikurilla Pesto 30. I chose the color from the palettes in the store and the consultant mixed the right can of paint for me.

In total, I painted the chair three times. When you apply paint for the first time, you want to exclaim “Whoa?”. The paint lays down in a thin layer, dark wood shines through it, grooves remain on the paint from the brush. The main thing here is patience.

Between applying each layer, I waited a day until the paint was completely dry.

3. Choose the fabric for the chair seat upholstery

Ohhh! The choice of fabric was almost the most difficult moment in this whole story. I went to the Internet to ask Google what he would tell you about fabric stores in St. Petersburg. What I found was sad sadness. Sites in the style of the beginning of the 2000s and photos of the assortment are such that I was amazed. Driving around the city in search of fabric, not being sure that I would find what I needed somehow did not smile at all for me.

And then I remembered my favorite fabric store Myata Fabric with beautiful modern prints. Now the guys are starting their own fabric production and will soon open a relaunched site, and I was lucky to grab one of the last pieces from the old collection. And I do not regret for a second that I had to wait until the fabric reached me by mail from Yekaterinburg. The wait was clearly worth it.

4. Cut out the fabric for the seat

A few years ago, the seat was already pulled over, but the cat sharpened its nails on the old fabric and it became unsightly. At the same time, the seat itself was completely normal, so I did not change the fabric and foam inside, but simply decided to wrap the seat with new fabric.

I laid the seat on the fabric and cut it around the perimeter with an allowance of 4-5 cm.

5. Fix the fabric with a construction stapler

First, I fixed the fabric with a construction stapler on four sides so that the fabric did not fidget and then separately walked along the perimeter. First on the sides of the seat and only lastly - the corners. In the process, I made sure that the fabric was well stretched, but still not too much.

Maybe it was my simple construction stapler, or maybe the plywood seat, but the staples didn't go all the way into the seat, so I tapped them all with a hammer to secure them properly.

6. Cut off excess fabric

I cut off the excess fabric to make it look neater. It is especially important to do this in the corners. Separately, you can cut a plug for the bottom of the seat, so it will look even neater. But my chair will not move much, but will stand in one place, so I decided to neglect this step.

7. Attach the seat to the chair

Depending on which fasteners you used initially, attach the seat to the base of the chair with them. I attached the seat with a glue gun, since my chair is used more for decorative purposes - it stands in a corner, I put a blanket, clothes on it, and put a bag. If you plan to use the chair in full, then it is better to take care of a more serious mount.

Here's what happened in the end!

While cleaning at the dacha / at home, you found your favorite wooden chair. Of course, it is sad that it is old and cracked all over, but its condition is still excellent. You don’t want to throw it away (and there are a lot of memories associated with it), so you decide to repair it and use it again. How will it look like?

Option number 1. A trip to the carpentry shop to make repairs (not the fact that it's good).

Option number 2. The most common is “I want it reliably and for a long time, so I will do it myself.” Yes, do-it-yourself repair of old furniture is the most successful in terms of saving restoration costs and the opportunity to feel like a Master (that's right, with a capital letter). Without long hymns, we suggest moving on to the restoration repair of a wooden chair with your own hands.

The main material is already there - a chair. To bring it into proper form, we take the following "ingredients" for work:

• Furniture foam for the seat (we choose the thickness according to the level of love to sit - hard, not very hard or soft);
• Brushes 45 mm wide, hard, 2 pieces;
• A sheet of 4-layer plywood for the seat (replacement is required if you do not want to fall like at school);
• Furniture glue "Moment carpentry";
• Clamps for fastening chair elements;
• Furniture tapestry (sold in furniture and general fabric stores);
• Hammer, wooden mallet, grinder, screwdriver, drill, jigsaw;
• Screws, metal corners to strengthen the structure;
• Five free days for the work itself (we proceed from the fact that the glue needs to dry, like varnish with stain, every day).

Does the set inspire fear only by its enumeration? For a novice master, this is still only a small part (for more experienced, this list can reach up to fifty points, and the work on restoring a chair with decoration can take a month). Let's get to the fun part of any job.

Do-it-yourself chair restoration master class (step-by-step instructions with photos)

Are the tools ready? Chair and are you ready? Forward!

1) We look at how the chair was fastened. First of all, you need to disassemble everything that “moves”:

• Where there are screws, carefully remove them,
• We carefully remove the wooden dowels on the legs with a drill (we just drill them out),
• Very carefully pull out the nails (if the chair was knocked together).

2) We number all the details that we have. Necessarily. The numbering goes from the legs up. Accordingly, you should have at least 10 parts, depending on how the chair was made:

• legs,
• Leg rails,
• Seat,
• Two straps for the back
• The back itself.

We carefully examine all the details for cracks (you can’t see everything at once, don’t worry). If you doubt your memory, when restoring furniture, take a regular photo. It helps, honestly.

3) Glue all cracked parts. Excess glue will be removed after sanding.

To ensure that the parts stick together well and are guaranteed to last longer, we compress them with clamps

4) We pay special attention to the repair of the chair seat:

• We simply circle the old plywood seat on a new sheet of plywood, carefully cut it out with a jigsaw,
• On the new plywood seat, glue the foam rubber as carefully as possible (also cut out in the shape of the seat),
• At the edges, fix the foam rubber with a furniture stapler, leave it to dry for a day.

If you want to make the seat softer, then you fix each new layer of foam rubber along the edges, do not glue it.

Throw away the old seat.

4) After gluing the parts, carefully sand them with a grinder and sandpaper (round and small parts cannot be passed by a grinder). Remove the remaining fine dust with a slightly damp cloth. Once again, inspect everything for cracks.
Here is a video on the restoration of an old chair from one home master, you may be interested:

5) Finishing the seat. At restoring an old chair is no less important than the repair process. On the widest part of the seat we fasten the tapestry with a stapler, pull it forward very tightly, bend the edges under the seat. There should be at least 5 cm of fabric along each edge. We fix the fabric with a furniture stapler at a distance of 1-2 cm. Repeat the procedure on all sides of the seat.

The result is such a kind of drum, inside of which is not emptiness, but foam rubber.

Continuation of the video from the home master, do-it-yourself restoration of the seat:

6) We cover all the details with a stain, after a day we paint over with 3-4 layers of varnish so that the chair does not become cracked at the very first landing of the guest on it.

7) We assemble a chair. When gluing the parts, we do not spare glue, the excess is very carefully erased and removed with a slightly damp cloth.

We strengthen the details of the connection of the seat and legs, crossbars and backrest with metal corners mounted on screws!

Nails do not have the desired effect of "longevity".

8) We cover again with a layer of varnish to hide the bumps and that's it - your chair is restored and ready to use again!

The end of the video on the restoration of the chair from the home master:

As you can see, everything is very simple. The main thing is not to rush, to approach all stages of restoration carefully, not to miss the details. And then everything will work out, the restored chair will be better and more beautiful than the new one!

Video: do-it-yourself chair restoration

Watch an excellent master class on restoration and decoration of a chair from the best half of humanity - as you can see, not only men can do it!

To cheer you up before the upcoming work, we offer some ideas to inspire you.

Art Nouveau lovers can "play" from the basic form to the one that comes into your head.

The simplest options for the restoration of wooden chairs are Provence and Country. We advise you to start with them.
Another version of the restored chairs:

And here is an interesting idea to restore old wooden chairs and make a pet feeding stand out of them:

And, finally, the original use of the old chair near the house or in the country:

Happy restoration!

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If you have old chairs in your house, don't throw them away. They can still serve you for several years if properly restored. You can do it yourself. So you save your money and have fun.

In this article, we will tell you how to make the restoration of old chairs with your own hands, as well as consider ideas for their upholstery.

How to restore an old chair

Required tools:

• Scissors.
• Paint brushes.
• polishing machine. If this is not, then you can do with a simple sandpaper.
• Putty knife.
• Electric drill and drill.
• Face protection mask.
• Copy paper.
• Electric saw.
• Paper.
• Pencil.

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Restoration stages:

• First you need to get rid of those parts of the stool that cannot be restored. For example, using a jigsaw, remove the crossbars and decrepit parts on the back.
• Now attaches a thick sheet of plywood to the seat. With a pencil, mark the intersection with the tops of the back, as the sheet can be very large. Using carbon paper, transfer the pattern to the blank. Drill holes into the plywood for easy cutting patterns.
• A sheet of plywood must be fixed between boards or on a workbench. Using a power saw, make the shape of the back of the stool. Put the finished part in place. Using a pencil, mark the places where the screws should be placed, on which the wooden planks and plywood will be held. Using a drill, make holes narrower than the screws themselves. Insert the screws and fill the holes with putty.
• We give time to dry. After that, you need to level everything. For this, sandpaper is used.
• If you need to paint the chair, then first you need to apply a layer of acrylic primer to the surface. Wait until dry. When processing, special attention must be paid to the back of the product, since all edges and lines must be processed carefully. Now you can paint. After the paint has dried, the chair is varnished.

seat trim

There are times when restoration of the stool seat is necessary. To do this, you will need the following materials and tools:

• Furniture stapler.
• Staples.
• Screwdriver.
• Foam rubber 5 cm thick or 2 pieces of fabric 2–3 cm thick.
• Thick seat upholstery fabric and backing fabric.

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So, how to re-upholster the seat of a wooden stool:

• Remove seat and upholstery. Don't throw away the base.
• We turn the chair over and remove the fasteners that hold the seat.
• We remove the factory brackets and pull out the frame with the spring. It will have a filler, or rather, the remnants of it. We remove all this.
• Cut out the rectangle. The upholstery should extend beyond the edges of the seat by 6–8 cm.
• We put a substrate of dense fabric on the springs. It must be fixed with a stapler to a wooden frame.
• We put the filler. Permissible thickness 4–5 cm.
• Making chair upholstery. It is best to do this with two people. For upholstery, linen, leather or textile materials are used.

Do-it-yourself restoration of old chairs

The process of restoring an old lacquered stool is slightly different. First of all, you need to prepare:

• Acetone.
• sponge.
• A brush.

To carry out the restoration of a wooden stool, it is necessary to remove the old coating. To do this, treat the surface with acetone. Thus, removing the old coating in the form of varnish.

Using a brush, cover the stool with a new varnish. Leave for a while. After that, you can use the chair again.

Small tips (master class):

• To cover small cracks, you can use putty made by yourself. To make putty, you need to take flour and PVA glue. The mixture should be very thick and resemble plasticine.
• To freshen up a wooden stool, you can use stain. She has different shades. Be sure to fix the stain with varnish. Otherwise, do not wash your clothes.

How to decorate an old chair in an original way - a master class

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At home, you can paint the stool as you like. If you choose the right design for the chair, it will be able to complement the interior of your home. For example, choose two colors for coloring, the first is turquoise, the second is white. Now let's move on to the back. It needs to be treated with fine-grained plaster. There will be a "worn out" effect. Choose the upholstery material so that it matches the color of the product.

If you want to make a vintage stool, then choose cream, blue, pink paint. Then do the painting on the chair. You can paint the entire stool or individual parts. Now you need to apply gold paint. Small cracks in this case will be in the subject. They will create the effect of antiquity.

If you need to make a chair in the Empire style, then choose the milky color of the fabric for the upholstery. It also has floral prints. The frame is covered with gold paint.

If you do not want to mess with paint, then you can sew a cover. It will completely cover all the shortcomings of the old stool.

You can replace the usual upholstery with leather straps. Take about 30 leather belts of different colors and weave them together. You need to bind according to the “basket” principle, and then fix it on the bottom with self-tapping screws.

Restoration: patchwork technique

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Each of us has a whole package of unnecessary things that we definitely won’t wear again. It is this material that is useful for creating a patchwork stool design. You need to decide on the range and choose the right materials from things.

It is worth noting that you do not need to use elastic materials. Pick simple things without complicated patterns. Use the old upholstery as a template.

If you are restoring chairs for the first time, then you need to choose square or rectangular elements for upholstery.

Cut the required number of patches and distribute them over the surface of the seat. The patches may vary in width. This will create a "mosaic" effect. Sew a ribbon from pieces of fabric. To do this, you can use a typewriter or do everything by hand. Collect the resulting strips into a single canvas. Try on the template for the seat. Cut off all excess. Fix upholstery.

Decoupage technique for the design of an old chair

This technique will help turn monotonous stools into original and beautiful items that will decorate the main interior of the house. To create a design, you will need napkins, fabric with a pattern, you can take leather applications. If it is possible to walk to the store, then you can buy special cards for such equipment.

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After you sand the chair, you need to close up all the cracks with putty and cover everything with a water-based emulsion. Cut out the picture, grease it with glue and apply the drawing. Gradually you need to move from the center to the edges , thereby smoothing the pattern. Let the surface dry and then varnish it.

Restoring an old chair with your own hands is not so difficult. The main thing is to do everything in stages. An old product can look like new if you pay attention to its design. It can be painted, re-upholstered, slipcovers sewn, or different design techniques applied. Then the chair will not only perform its functions, but will also become an addition to the interior of the room.

Do not rush to throw away old things. They can be useful for the restoration of an old stool. We looked at different options for stool design that anyone can make.

Video: how to restore a wooden chair at home

In almost every home you can find a few old chairs, the appearance of which leaves much to be desired. Don't be in a hurry to throw them away. Restoration will help to breathe a second life into an old, but favorite piece of furniture.

Restoration gives the chair a second life and creates unique furniture.

Just a little effort, and old chairs or armchairs will turn into real works of art and will delight their owners for many years.

Give a second life

Restoring chairs with your own hands is not so much a difficult process as painstaking.

Before proceeding with the case, it is necessary to carefully inspect the product. Based on the results of the inspection, it will become clear what to do: just drag the seat of the chair, update the paintwork, or carry out a more serious repair.

If the chair is loosened, then the cause should be sought in the spiked joints. Over time, the wood shrinks, the connecting elements begin to hang out in their nests. To eliminate this and strengthen the structure, it is necessary to increase the size of the spike, seal the sides and replace the power jumpers.

Scheme of assembly and constriction of the chair.

Restoration of a paint and varnish covering will demand smaller efforts. Old paint will have to be removed, the surface of the parts sanded and coated with paint or varnish. For high-quality performance of work, the chair must be disassembled: remove the seat, unscrew the back and legs. If the design of the product is complex and has many small parts, then during disassembly, a diagram of the location of each part should be drawn up. This will facilitate the assembly of the chair after the restoration is completed.

The easiest way to update an old chair is to replace the upholstery. Replacing old and worn fabric can change the appearance of furniture beyond recognition. If necessary, updating chairs with your own hands can be done in any one way or include all of the listed types of work.

Preparing for recovery

Before starting work, it is necessary to prepare tools and materials. If the chair needs serious repairs, then you will need:

Before restoration, the old chair must be disassembled.

1. Screwdriver.
2. Screwdrivers.
3. A hammer.
4. Mallet.
5. Clamps.
6. Clamps are metal.
7. Sandpaper of various grain sizes.
8. Construction stapler and staples.
9. Acrylic paint and brushes.
10. Scissors, pencil or felt-tip pen, cardboard, tailor's centimeter.
11. Foam rubber.
12. Thick fabric for upholstery.
13. Bucket, rag and dishwashing liquid.

The first step towards restoring a chair is to clean it of dust and dirt. To wash it well, you will need warm water, a soft cloth and some dishwashing liquid. This solution will help to quickly clean the chair not only from dirt, but also from part of the old varnish. The washing procedure should be carried out promptly so that the wood does not come into contact with water for long, and then everything must be thoroughly dried.

The next stage of restoration is dismantling. First you need to remove the back and rear legs. The main thing here is to follow the rule: the assembly of the chair must be carried out in the reverse order. Only in this way will all the holes coincide with each other. In addition, all parts and fasteners must be marked. This will also make assembly easier.

Tools for restoring chairs: batting, upholstery fabric, stapler, staples, foam mounting adhesive, cardboard, screwdriver, scissors.

If the heads of the screws that fasten the parts are hidden in the sockets and they are covered with wooden plugs, then they can be removed using a chisel. If it does not work, then you need to use a drill, the diameter of which is equal to the diameter of the plug, and drill it out. The opened screw is turned out with a screwdriver. A drop of technical oil applied to the screw will facilitate the work.

If the chair was held together with epoxy, then hot water will help remove it. Wet a rag or napkin and put it on the place of gluing. Repeat the procedure until the glue is completely softened. Then you need to scrape it off with a knife and dry the parts. Hot steam will help soften the glue in tight joints. To do this, a rubber hose is put on the spout of the kettle, a jet of steam is directed to the connection.

Processing and assembly of parts

In order to qualitatively restore the chair, it must be carefully examined. All details must be processed with sandpaper. Glue the large cracks found and tighten them with clamps. Glue the smaller ones and secure with paper tape. Excess holes and chips on the parts should be filled with a slurry of glue and small sawdust. You can continue to work only after the glue is completely dry.

To facilitate work with sandpaper, it must be cut into narrow strips and glued to wooden blocks 20-40 mm wide and 300-350 mm long. Paper must be used with different grain sizes. The surface after processing should be even and smooth. A grinder will help to facilitate the work and significantly reduce the processing time.

Be sure to check all connections. If the legs of the chair are inserted directly into the seat and eventually become loose in their nests, then to strengthen them, it is enough to wedge them. At the ends of the upper narrowed parts of the legs, a cut is made and a wedge is driven into it. Thanks to this technique, the end diameter will become larger and it will sit more tightly in the socket, which must be pre-lubricated with glue.

It will be more difficult to restore chairs with crossbars between the legs and drawers under the seat. In such designs, a tenon-groove connection and sizing are used to fasten parts. When the seam weakens, you need to drill a hole with a small diameter from the inside and drop a few drops of glue there with a syringe. When the spike is weakened, it must be strengthened with thin wedges. Matches or wooden chips that are dipped in glue are suitable for this purpose. They need to be hammered into the nest along with the spike.

If the chair is very loose, then in addition to gluing the joints, it is necessary to strengthen the structure with wooden bars. They should be attached with screws to the sides, which are used to connect the inner corners of the frame. Bars and tsargs should be perfectly fitted to each other. Even the smallest gap between them will cause the entire structure to skew.

Now you can begin to assemble the chair frame. All parts must be installed in their places. In order for the adhesive to grab, it is necessary to provide sufficient pressure. Tighten the elements to be glued with clamps or cords. A bucket of water can be placed on the seat. This will provide the necessary pressure. With such a load, the chair must stand for at least 24 hours. Excess glue should be removed immediately with a damp cloth.

Soft seat replacement

If the chair has a soft seat that needs to be replaced, it's time to get started. First you need to remove the old fabric and padding. If there are defects on the wooden surface, then they must be eliminated.

Marking should be done on the new foam rubber. The old seat is applied to the foam rubber and outlined with a felt-tip pen. To cut straight, you need to take a sharp knife. Then make a pattern on the fabric, taking into account allowances for hem and foam rubber. Next, lay the pattern face down on a flat surface. Foam rubber is placed on top, and then the seat. The allowances must be wrapped on the wrong side, pulled and aligned with the front side. Align the folds in the corners, bend the edges and attach the material with a stapler. If it is not at hand, then you can use small carnations, which have wide caps. Fix the updated seat on the frame with metal corners and self-tapping screws. If the chair has a soft back, then it is restored in the same order as the seat.

A fully restored and transformed chair will serve its owners for many years.

If you still have old Soviet chairs, do not write off to get rid of them. With your own hands you can change them so that they become better than they were at the beginning. Also, self-restoration of furniture significantly saves any budget, if before that there was an intention to buy a new set.

DIY chair restoration master class

At the beginning of work on the restoration of furniture, it is necessary to choose the type with which the old chair will become new. If the wooden elements are badly loosened, cracks appear on them, and the sheathing is fairly frayed over time, then a detailed and thorough restoration with its complete or partial disassembly will be required to update such a chair. If, over time, the chair did not suffer much: the fabric was slightly frayed, the varnish peeled off and the paint faded, then there will be no need to disassemble the item itself. The simplest and most economical type of restoration is do-it-yourself upholstery of chairs. Let's take a closer look at each update type:

Complex restoration of chairs

In the work on the complex restoration of chairs, the following inventory will be needed:

• Filler for furniture. Such material can be, for example, foam rubber.
• Special stapler and staples for furniture.
• Lacquer and paint, as well as stain.
• Brushes of different stiffness, width and shape.
• A sheet of plywood, for new elements of chairs, if the previous ones have completely fallen into disrepair.
• Glue for furniture.
• Metal clamps.
• Furniture tapestry, with colors that will organically fit into the new interior.
• Grinder.
• Wooden mallet.
• Screwdriver.
• Drill.
• Self-tapping screws and screws.

Also keep in mind that the restoration work will take approximately 5 to 7 days. Part of the time will be spent on drying the finished product after gluing and painting.

The order and stages of restoration work

First of all, it is necessary to prepare the chair for restoration work. Clean all surfaces from dust and dirt, and remove grease stains, if any. To do this, you can use any soap solution and rags or brushes. The main task at this stage is speed. The tree does not like long contact with water and chemical solutions.

After the chair is completely dry, it must be disassembled into parts. This must be done as carefully as possible so as not to spoil any individual elements.

When all parts are separated, they must be carefully examined for defects. If there are cracks, they will need to be glued. Only after the glue is completely dry, you can start grinding all the details using sandpaper.