Painting Metal Chairs & How-to Upholster Chair Seats

My eagled-eyed hubby spotted these chairs at a house-gutting on a random Adelaide street.

I melted when I saw them.
Look at those long, lean lines in solid metal, with a perfect hint of Art Deco.
Yet, truly ugly ducklings in their current '80s pink and cream state.
But the potential...ohhhh the potential!

What was even more unusual in a roadside rescue—we scored a set of four!
All in great shape, not a thing wrong with them 
other than that upholstery screaming for replacement.

Aren't I lovely? And I come with 3 friends!

They were immediately put to good use in our Miss Mustard Seed Workshops
and our Autentico Workshops  so they have been
 "good enough" since being rescued.

 At some point along the way, two of the beauties 
were painted with leftover paint, 
but never waxed and that's how they've stayed for more than a year.
(Bad Sada!! Never do this!!)

One coat of a custom mixed pinky-coral colour of Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint 
with Bonding Agent was used on the chair on the right. 
Both the wrought iron chandelier and the chair on the left were painted
using Autentico Chalk Paint.  


The chandy is painted in Autentico's Mint Julep 
and the chair on the left is in one coat of Autentico's Bright Turquoise.
You can see the seat covers stayed as-is.

Painted, not waxed, and the original upholstery remains untouched

Because I left the paint unsealed for more than a year and 
the chairs were used in Workshops and around the For The Love Studio, 
they were NOT protected and the surface took a beating.
 However, I like experimenting  like this so I can speak 
from experience as to what happens.
Frankly, I would have expected much worse, it held up well,
regardless, I would not recommend leaving the paint unwaxed.

In my part of the world here in Adelaide, South Australia, we had a few days of 
summer heat in the 40s (about 105) making it too hot to paint. 
But I thought it well past time to finish these girlies up 
so they can sparkle like they were meant to. 
I began by taking their seats off and waxing the chairs.


I love how smooshy and liquidy Furniture Wax gets in the heat,
and even though I find waxing enjoyable any day, 
I love it even more in hot weather.

There are a lot of good waxes out there, but I'm telling you, if you haven't tried 
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Wax yet, get on it asap. 
It is a wax like no other.
It is exceptionally smooth and silky, glides on like butter,  
smells good enough to eat, you can rub it into your skin and 
there is no tackiness or stickiness to its finish. 
It's divine.
 
I used my Wax Brush to roughly brush it onto the chairs, 
then my hands to rub it all over the surface. 
I like to feel where the Wax has changed the paint finish from chalky to slick.
This also helps me pick up any spots I may have missed.


Next up, let's get this upholstery done!

Let's get that seat off!

Flip the chair over and remove the screws, there are typically four.
I find it easiest to loosen the screws diagonal from each other, 
repeat this step, then remove all the screws one after the other
once they've all been loosened.

I come from a family of seamstresses who taught me 
to keep my tools and all elements of the job together and if need be, labeled.
A jar or dish nearby or a plastic bag all work well.

I've used this salt dish from my grandmother in the Studio for years.
It's a beautiful reminder of her, a woman who greatly
inspired my love for the creative arts. 

Great Tip: Keep all your screws together in a dish, jar or bag

I've been admiring this brightly-coloured oilcloth fabric for awhile.
I love to work in a colourful environment and knew these would provide the perfect
whimsical jolt for my serious metal Art Deco Workshop chairs.

Brightly-coloured oilcloth fabric in coordinating prints and colours

Once you have the seat off, it's time to evaluate its condition.
Is it warped? Is the stuffing stuffed? 
Is the batting flat or the internal cushion lumpy?
Is there water damage or staining?
If so you'll need to remove the fabric and replace the internals...
these techniques are more than we'll get into here today.

This was a pretty straightforward upholstery job 
in that the old seat wasn't gross, stained, smelly or dirty. 
The stuffing was still firm, not crumbly, the seats were in very good shape, 
just dated, so I upholstered straight over the old fabric.


The first step is placing the fabric loosely over the seat
to position the pattern for maximum impact. 
Sometimes the perfect placement requires using more fabric. 
Again, these are Workshop chairs, so I didn't belabour this step. 
I made sure I had some of the primary 
flower on the seat and then worked as close to the edge (selvage) of the fabric
as possible in order to use as little fabric as possible.

Position the fabric pattern for greatest effect when the seat is replaced

I prefer the insurance of buying extra fabric when covering a seat.
I also follow the golden rule of measure twice, cut once.  
Double-check your pattern and position it for maximum impact. 
Don't forget to make sure the seat is facing out when you do this as if it were 
on the chair and you were approaching it.
Mark the base of the seat noting the front and/or the back of the cushion.


Once happy with the position of the fabric, make certain there's enough to
fold onto the back on each side and staple.
Then turn the seat over onto the fabric right sides down
 on a flat surface centering the seat and trim the fabric to size if necessary
as you don't want too much bulk hanging over on the back.

Placing the seat in the center of the cut-to-size fabric

Once you've got it all lined up, double-check your pattern placement.
Now starts the fun!
Work from the seat front to the back because if there's a mistake to be made,
 it's better hidden at the back of the seat.  
Fold the fabric back on the board and time to bust out the staple gun!

Pull the fabric snug and staple away.
Work from the centre out to the edges
stapling all four sides stopping about 30-40cm from each edge
careful not to hide the screw holes.

Time to use the staple gun to secure the fabric in place

This leaves the corners. 
There are a few different techniques you can use.
I'm most familiar with the two I'll show here, but jumping onto 
YouTube or reading a few professional upholstery blogs/websites 
would be helpful. Then test a couple without stapling before committing.

 The first technique is to pull the point of the fabric straight back. 
Space the tucks, then pull the edges to each other 
from each side and staple into place.

One of the techniques for getting seat corners right

Staple one side, then fold over, pull tightly and staple the opposite side

Carefully folding the fabric back and balancing the tucks before stapling

Another method is to fold the top flap 
down then inside (like wrapping a gift),  then fold all three pieces up 
together neatly before securing with a staple.

Gather all together neatly and staple down

Keep your corners clean and tight with minimal tucks

All finished and ready to be reattached

Once corners are complete, trim away any excess fabric. 
Whatever corner technique you use, if it has too many layers of fabric 
the seat will be too high leaving a gap between the cushion and the base.
The fold should be slightly away from the edge on 
the underside so as to not be visible when the seat is reinstalled.


To reinstall, place chair upside down on a hard surface,
line up screw holes. Put screws diagonal from each other half way in.
Once all four screws are half-way in, tighten all four.

From left: Autentico Chalk Paint in Bright Turquoise, Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in custom colour, Autentico Bright Green and Autentico Hydrangea

Voila! Upcycling success and happy new chairs ready
for Workshops at For The Love Creations studio!

Book a Workshop or visit our studio and shop to meet these lovely ladies in person!

It's all here...for the love...
Sada