If you ever shop the secondhand, consignment, or antique shops in your area, you will see lots of beautiful dining room chairs with fabric that is perhaps not so beautiful!  Never fear.  As long as the chair is structurally sound, the fabric is likely quite easy to change out.

All you need is a loaded staple gun and some great fabric!  You can find an inexpensive staple gun for less than $20 at Home Depot or Michaels.  For the fabric, I’d recommend you choose something with a partial synthetic blend — it will make the seat pad much more durable.  You can estimate that you’ll need 1/2 yard of fabric per chair pad.  Many times, you can simply apply the new fabric right over the old.

Most  chair pads are held onto their frames by 4 screws, accessible by turning the chair over.  Remove all the pads and cut your fabric pieces so that they are 3 or 4 inches larger than the pad itself.  This gives you enough to wrap around the sides.  The key is this :: pick a side, and staple the fabric in the middle of that side.  Then pull the fabric taut, and staple the middle of the opposite side.  Flip your seat over, and take a look.  Make sure you like the way the fabric looks.  Then proceed!  The corners can be tricky, and you can cut the excess off if needed.  You’ll find the technique that works best for you and each chair pad will be better than the one before!