A Brass Chiavari Chair Upholstery Makeover
Today’s post is another home DIY tutorial, sharing how I upholstered a vintage chair. This is a great beginner’s project as it requires minimal tools and can be done in under an hour! It also features one of my personal unicorn secondhand finds… a solid brass Chiavari chair. Keep reading to see how much I paid for the chair and how I cleaned it up & recovered the seat for under $15! Plus, stick around to see a roundup of similar chairs, if you’re looking to replicate this project yourself.
I actually ended up with two of these chairs- one lives in my home office and the other near my back entry (that one is perfect for a catch all and holding our car keys). Sarah has shared her own chair upholstery post before, and plenty of other upholstery and textile tutorials. Her upholstered bed and faux fur lumbar pillow are some of my personal favorites. Check them out if you’re in the mood for some DIY decor projects that feature pretty fabrics!
Supplies
Linked below are all the tools & supplies you’ll need for this project. My first stop for secondhand items is always Facebook Marketplace, so keep your eyes peeled for potential upholstery projects!
- chair or seat cushion that needs reupholstered (see some options linked below!)
- heavy duty staple gun
- pliers
- power drill (or screw driver)
- upholstery weight fabric
- fabric scissors
Step 1: Select a Chair
Like I mentioned, I had been searching for a brass Chiavari chair for some time and had a few local listings saved on marketplace. They were priced around $500-$800 per chair, so I hoped that a better deal would come along if I was patient. In the midst of my budget office makeover, a listing popped up for $600 for two chairs. While that was still much cheaper than any others I had seen, I still didn’t want to pay $300 per chair. They had been listed for over a week, so I took a chance and offered $450 for both… which was accepted! My mom still thinks I’m crazy to spend $225 each on chairs that I don’t plan to sit on, but I view them as a combination of a sculptural side table meets decor… so the price was worth it to me.
I actually really liked the fabric shown in the listing pictures, so I was planning to keep the chairs as-is. When I saw them in person, the striped fabric was bunching and sagging. It was also quite dirty and stained. The chairs had clearly been re-upholstered before with a silky material, and while beautiful- wasn’t withstanding the test of time. I decided to recover the seats and selected a heavier duty fabric from Etsy for the project- I only needed 1/2 a yard to cover both chairs.
Step 2: Remove the Seat
Removing chair seats is usually super easy! This one just had 4 screws (one in each corner) holding the seat through braces on the bottom of the chair. I used a drill to remove them, but you could also just use a screw driver and some elbow grease.
Step 3: Remove Old Fabric
The staples holding the striped fabric were easy to remove with some needle nose pliers. Underneath, I found the seat covered in a brown corduroy fabric that was still in good condition. So I decided to keep that on the seat and just cover it back up with my fabric selection. Had it been worse for wear, I would have removed that layer as well.
Step 5: Staple & Reattach the Seat
After a quick vacuum and spot clean, I simply laid my fabric face down (paying attention to where the pattern would line up) and centered the seat (also face down) on top of it. I started from the center of each edge, pulling the fabric taut and stapling the fabric down. At the corners, I wrapped and folded the fabric neatly, to avoid excessive fabric bunching. Once the fabric was secured, I trimmed any excess and screwed the seat back into place.
I also took a minute to wipe down the brass, but decided against polishing it. I like the look of a good brass patina, and the metal was in really good shape. If the chair you are working on is wood, you could take minute to polish it or revive it with some restor-a-finish.
Vintage Chair Roundup
Click directly on each vintage chair below to be redirected.
brass chair with red seat // wood with printed seat // gilded wood chair // wood with ivory seat // turned wood with woven seat // woven seat chiavari // brass with orange seat
FAQ
I’ll be honest & say that these aren’t the most comfortable chairs. I use them as side tables, but they would work as additional seating in a pinch!
I think solid brass is a timeless material that will always be in style. But I also love to mix metals… you’ll find brass, polished nickel, and bronze/matte black throughout my home!
I have some pillow covers in my bedroom made from this same fabric, so I took the opportunity to repeat a design decision with these chairs for cohesion. It also happened to match my office drapery and lumbar pillow perfectly!
Thanks for reading & for all of the kind comments on my home office makeover! I hope this post provided helpful information if you decide to tackle an upholstery project in the future. Let me know if you have any questions in the comment section below!
