Sandpaper & Sparkles: DIY Upholstering

Lately, I have a new found love for upholstering. Mostly just finding items that I can re-upholster! Within the last year, I was generously given two stools from my father. And my lovely little stools were viciously ripped about by my cat Milo. (He's too cute to get mad at and I'm not cruel enough to remove him nails). They had tons of picked marks and I just couldn't stand them any longer. So, my re-upholstering adventure began.

Here is a before picture of my little babies. They don't look so bad here!

.....just don't look close.

Yikes!

Alright, lets get down to business. First thing is first. Take your approximate measurements and head to your local fabric store! I had an idea of what I wanted, but ya never know what you're gonna ended up with. I scored some really cute white with grey writing fabric. I didn't notice until I got the fabric home that the words were actually foods, so it was perfect for my island :)

I also picked up some nailheads that my autocorrect on my computer likes to change to railheads. They are perfect for detailing furniture. I love em.

An important step that is sometimes forgotten about is to iron the fabric before use. This helps with no creases lines and easier working fabric. I cut the fabric in equal halves (making sure the halves were enough to cover each stool).

There are many ways to upholster furniture but for this particular project, I decided to take off the existing fabric. Others, may decide to leave the fabric on and just cover overtop of it. Once I removed the seat and the fabric from the stools, I spread out my new fabric over my workspace with the writing facing down so, I could see the inside of the fabric. I placed the seat onto of the fabric (again, I made sure I had enough room for the seat and the back of one stool) and cut according to my measurements.

Now, the next step can be done several different ways. I chose to staple the fabric. I used an air compressor and a staple gun, borrowed from my brother. If you do use an air compressor and staple gun, I recommend wearing safety glasses and knowing what the hell you're doing or you may end out with a few new piercings. I luckily had my brother teach me how to use A) the air compressor and B) the staple gun. However, I am still no pro given the staples I accidentally shot randomly into the air while re-upholstering my bench last week. Safety glasses everyone, safety glasses.

If you do not own an air compressor/staple gun or you are a little too intimidated by using one (I can't see why you would be, I clearly stated above its really safe.......), using a hand held stapler will work as well, such as the one shown below.

Moving onto the finer details. Start with the simplest and easiest (if there is one) and staple in the middle of your side. Also, check that your fabric is in the correct position. This is important if you have fabric like mine. You do not want to finish your piece and realize that the fabric is in the wrong position and if you are anything like me, you'll have to start over. (At least then you'll be getting more practice??).

Once you have 4-5 staples (depending on the size) on your side you started with, move to work on the side opposite to the side you just stapled. Pull the fabric tight and staple away. I do a little quick check on the other side of the seat to make sure that I am not pulling the fabric too tightly before I staple. ........I hope I haven't lost anyone yet.

Luckily, I was working with a square shape. I moved to the other two sides and repeated the above steps. I stapled along the sides, working from the inside to the outside, leaving enough free fabric to make my corners. Now. The corners. The most difficult part. This will take some practice and probably some frustration as well. Treat your project as if you were wrapping a present and fold your corners. Figure out what works for you. I tried a few different ways before I stapled anything. Sometimes, I even cut off extra fabric. The goal is to have a corner that is as neat as possible. Don't worry about it if you staple a corner and it looks like something a 4 year old child has done. They are only staples and can be removed easily. Don't stress, screwing up is part of the learning process.

Here is how my corners turned out for my first time re-upholstering. They are certainly not perfect but they worked for me and I was happy with them. Took a few attempts!

The seat wasn't a perfect square and I had some difficulties on the double corned sides but I got through it with some patience.

Once, both seats were done, I added the nailheads. I just winged this. I didn't get too crazy and measure the space between each nailhead, I just guesstimated. I recommend using a rubber hammer so you don't rough up the finish.

Half way there!!! The backs of the stools were a bit more difficult as I could not remove them. So, I removed the existing fabric and worked around the stool. Another tip is to look at how the original fabric was upholstered, chances are you will want to mimic that.

I draped the fabric over the front and back and cut according. I ended out having to fold corners along the side edges and the staples were exposed but with my trusty railheads, the staples were covered. I pulled the two edges of the fabric together underneath and stapled. The staples are visible underneath but that is never seen. ALL DONE!