Update chairs with your own hands at home. Master class on the restoration of an old wooden chair with your own hands

Sooner or later, most of us face the task of buying new furniture, including chairs. At the same time, it doesn't always make sense to buy new furniture at a high enough price, since we can refurbish old chairs.

This approach has many advantages. Here are just the most obvious ones:

• It won't take long, especially if you follow the instructions.
• Using old Soviet furniture instead of buying new one will save a lot.
• It will help to create new, at the same time, unique interior items that no one else will have.

The thing is that chairs, like any other pieces of furniture, are not something eternal. Even high-quality chairs are subject to aging and breakage, especially in cases where we, in one way or another, "help" them, inadvertently causing damage. So it turns out that pieces of furniture become unusable. Of course, chairs, being one of the most actively used pieces of furniture, suffer in the first place. In this case, as a rule, the chair seat is subjected to the greatest damage, while all other parts remain more or less intact and unharmed.

If you are interested in restoring old chairs with your own hands at home, then you can be sure that you do not even need to have any rich experience in decorating and repairing. It is enough to learn a master class on hauling, painting, decoupage and other options for reworking and decorating old furniture and you will be able to repair the chair. In any case, this experience can come in handy in the future, as you can upholster "grandmother's" sofas and reupholster chairs of about the same age. Thanks to this approach, almost any furniture is provided with a second life, and not just a place in a landfill or in a closet, as often happens.

Meanwhile, the idea of ​​repairing furniture has one more, albeit not the most obvious, plus. The point is how to restore old chairs at home will help not only to make something new that already seemed unnecessary. In addition, you can feel the pleasure of embodying your creative energy.

How to update a chair or armchair

First of all, it is necessary to recall that the method of recovery depends on the nature of the damage. If you try to highlight the main damage, you can identify the most common types of damage:

• Broken leg, problems with the back, seat or other wooden part.
• There is wear on the upholstery.
• The paintwork on the wooden surface has worn off (especially when restoring Viennese chairs).

So, the way the chair is restored will depend on exactly which part is broken or worn out. So, the scheme of restoration and repair should be chosen depending on the places (or places) in which there are problems.

It is often enough to simply connect the dispersed parts, restoring one of the connecting parts that could deteriorate over time. We are talking about the groove and the spike. The wear or expansion of one of them just leads to the fact that the chair gradually becomes unstable and begins to stagger on its legs. Repair, as a rule, consists in the almost complete disassembly of the structure with the extension of the spike. To solve this problem, you will have to, as they say, try.

On the other hand, if you need to restore a wooden chair that has lost its old paintwork, this can be done much more easily. If the varnish is cracked, you just need to remove it, treat the surface with fine-grained sandpaper. And then apply a coat of paint again. Or varnish, if you are provided with this particular type of coating. In any case, paint or varnish - it's your choice.

It is also quite simple to reupholster old chairs. To do this, you only need to replace the old worn or torn fabric with a new one. Let's take a closer look at the main stages of the restoration of chairs at home.

Recovery steps

Any chair can be made new. However, for this it is necessary to know at least in general terms the sequence of work. If you do not have experience in doing such things, then for this it is recommended to study at least a short master class, which will be discussed below.

Preparatory stage

With the proper approach, even if the upholstery is torn, the legs are loose, the old varnish or paint is partially or completely cracked, it can be completely transformed by doing the restoration yourself. First of all, you will need the minimum required set of tools and materials:

1. Tools for restoring a chair: a screwdriver, a hammer, 2 different screwdrivers, scissors, a brush, a clamp, a stapler, sandpaper, a small mallet and scissors.
2. Materials: screws (self-tapping screws), staples for a stapler, glue for wooden furniture, foam rubber, paint and varnish, upholstery fabric.

After preparing the materials, try to clean the chair from dirt and dust by washing it thoroughly. To do this, you can wipe the chair with a slightly dampened sponge.

Disassembly

Before restoring the chair, it must be disassembled. After waiting for the chair to dry after wiping with a damp sponge, you can proceed to disassemble it. The seats and back, as a rule, are removed quite simply, after which the frame is disassembled. Use a rubber mallet rather than a metal mallet to prevent damage to the components when knocking them out. In any case, work should be done very carefully.

If the table is assembled with screws or screws, then it is not difficult to disassemble it, since you just need to unscrew them. In any case, it is advisable to dismantle all the parts, as they may interfere with the repair. In this case, if there is such an opportunity, designate the details of the fasteners or simply fold them in such a way that you cannot later confuse them.

As for how best to remove the remnants of old glue, especially epoxy. Those places where there are glue residues must be covered with pre-moistened rags or sponges. Any old and unnecessary rags will do. Keep it on the parts of the chair until the glue is completely soaked, after which it can be scraped off fairly quickly with a knife.

Please note! For this job, it is better to find an old dull knife, since it makes no sense to use a new one or a well-sharpened one.

In any case, after you have finished getting rid of the old glue, you will need to leave some time for the wooden parts to dry. In cases where epoxy has got into a hard-to-reach place, it can be removed in much the same way, with the only difference being that steam will need to be used instead of water. If you do not have any special devices that create hot steam under pressure, you can use the old grandfather's "method", which involves using a hose with a tip that is put on the kettle's spout.

Step by step recovery instructions

So, after the preparation has been completed, we can proceed directly to the restoration of the old chair. Here's what you have to do:

1. First of all, get rid of chips and possible cracks. This is done with putty.
2. Then carefully sand the wood with sandpaper, first with coarse and then with fine grit, so that the work surface becomes smooth.
3. Take a good look at the stele and all its details. If the legs are wobbly, then this needs to be addressed. There are several options: either using a wedge (it is driven in from the end of the trunnion), or wrapping the trunnion with a bandage, followed by coating with glue.
4. If the legs of the chair are very loose, but, for one reason or another, could not be dismantled, then there is one way that helps to solve the problem. So, you need to drill a thin hole at the junction, and then pour glue into it using a syringe.
5. In order for the glue to "take" better and the connection to become reliable, put any available weight on the seat and wait until the glue is completely dry.
6. After that, the seat of the chair is restored, if necessary. It can consist of both soft upholstery and be made of wood. It all depends on the design of the chair. As for the alteration of the frame, you can use several different finishes for it, ranging from varnishing or red to such a rare technique as decoupage.

By the way! Alternatively, you can sew covers. This will not only update the old chair, but also make it attractive due to the interchangeable design of the covers.

DIY recovery

And now let's see what can be done with antique chairs during restoration and how best to decorate them.

Decor with fabric

To make such a decoration is quite simple. You need to either reupholster old soft spots or sew covers. By the way, a similar approach can be applied to sofas and other pieces of furniture.

Backrest update

There are different options. Among the most common ones that can give chairs new life are decoupage and the use of textiles (including denim).

Upholstery restoration

The main thing in this case is the choice of high-quality and durable fabric. These include: jute, tapestry and jacquard. Sometimes velor is also suitable. Upholstery of chairs using tapestry is a wonderful technique, which, by the way, gives an excellent result in the end. By the way, you can add a pattern woven using the macrame method to the fabric.

We use macrame for decoration

If we talk about macrame in a little more detail, then it should be noted that this can be done even if you do not have weaving skills with this method.

One possibility is that if the back of the old chair is upholstered, remove the upholstery and weave a simple mesh with a square section. By the way, the cell size can be both large and small. To give the updated chair a more harmonious appearance, you can also redo the seat upholstery.

Decoupage technique

This option can make your chair a real decoration. Using this method, you can finish a lot of things by doing various crafts, up to decorating a box for souvenirs. So, you can extend the life of antique chairs, however, only if all their structural elements are made of wood.

jute decoration

And finally, I would like to say a few words about how you can decorate an old, for example, Soviet chair, if you have unnecessary or torn jeans. There are two options for decorating: completely redraw the chair with jute, and use denim as an additional decoration. It can be a strip or a small patch.

Sooner or later, every person needs to buy new furniture, this applies not only to large interior items, but also to chairs. But before you go to the store, you need to think carefully, because perhaps your house has a lot of furniture that you can update yourself and transform beyond recognition. In addition, prices in modern salons and markets are often overpriced. For example, restoring chairs with your own hands is an ideal way out of this situation. Today we will tell you how the restoration of old furniture takes place, how to proceed in stages in order to achieve a good result.

The main advantages of furniture restoration

This option of restoring interior items has a lot of advantages. The most obvious of these include:

1. This process takes quite a bit of time, especially if you follow the instructions clearly.
2. The transformation of old furniture allows you to save a lot on the purchase of new products.
3. Restoration of chairs allows you to get as a result completely new, unique things that are not found in any other home.

Chairs, like other pieces of furniture, tend to wear out, and quite quickly. Even the highest quality products are subject to breakage and aging, especially when a person accelerates this process with his actions. This can be serious damage caused by negligence and too intensive use. Seats suffer the most, as they bear the maximum load.

To restore worn-out products, it is not at all necessary to have extensive experience in the field of repair and decoration. It is enough to familiarize yourself with several workshops on painting, hauling, decoupage, decorating, reworking old furniture, and you will succeed.

Important! This experience will certainly come in handy in the future if you decide to reupholster an old sofa or reupholster an armchair. Using this approach, you can breathe a second life into any product, instead of sending it to a landfill.

In addition, this idea has another huge plus: you will not only restore old chairs on your own, but also experience maximum positive emotions from the realization of your own creative idea.

Features of updating an armchair or chair

Remember that the method you choose to restore the chair with your own hands depends on the nature of the damage. There are three main types of damage:

• Upholstery wear.
• Back problems, broken leg, seat, or other piece of wood.
• The paintwork on the wooden surface has fallen into disrepair.

Based on this, we can conclude that the repair and restoration scheme is selected, depending on where the problem arose on the furniture:

• Often it is enough to connect the loosened parts, to replace the connecting part that has failed over time. This applies to spikes and grooves.
• Expansion and wear of these very elements leads to the fact that the chair slowly begins to loosen and becomes completely unstable. In such cases, the repair consists in the complete disassembly of the furniture with the build-up of a spike. Here you have to work hard.
• If the problem concerns the wear of the paintwork, then it is easier to fix it. If the varnish is cracked, it is enough to remove it, sand the surface with sandpaper and apply a new layer of paint or varnish.
• Reupholstery of old chairs can also be called a simple matter, because you just need to replace the torn or worn fabric with new material.

Now we will consider the most popular restoration options in stages.

Step by step reconstruction of an old chair

Before you restore an old chair with your own hands, you should familiarize yourself with the sequence of this work. If this is your first time doing this, then check out the short tutorial below.

Training

If you approach the work correctly, you can completely restore the furniture yourself, even if the upholstery is torn on it, the legs are loosened, the paint or varnish is completely or partially cracked.

The first step is to prepare a minimum set of necessary materials and tools:

1. Materials: self-tapping screws (screws), upholstery fabric, staples for a stapler, foam rubber, glue for wooden furniture, varnish or paint.
2. Tools: hammer, screwdriver, scissors, two different screwdrivers, clamp, brush, sandpaper, stapler, small mallet.

After that, prepare the chair: clean it from dust, dirt, wash it thoroughly.

Disassembly

Naturally, before updating an old chair with a backrest with your own hands, it must be completely disassembled. Once it dries, you can get to work:

1. First of all, the back and seat are removed, only then the frame is disassembled.
2. When knocking out parts, use a rubber mallet so as not to damage them. Work as carefully as possible.
3. If the chair is assembled with screws or spikes, then it is enough to unscrew them.
4. Fold all the details neatly or mark them in some way so as not to confuse them later.
5. If there is old glue left somewhere, in particular epoxy, then attach moistened rags or sponges to these places. Any unnecessary old rags will do. Let it stay on the parts until the glue is completely soaked, then it can be scraped off with a knife. A dull old knife will do the job.
6. After the old glue is removed, let the wooden elements dry a little.

Important! If epoxy gets into hard-to-reach places, you can use steam instead of water to remove it.

Reconstruction

So, the preparatory work is fully completed, now you can proceed to the process of restoring the old chair.

Do it in this order:

• First, get rid of possible cracks and chips with putty.
• Sand the wood thoroughly with sandpaper so that the entire work surface is perfectly smooth.
• Look carefully at all the details. If the legs are loose, then solve this problem now. Use a wedge, drive it in from the end of the trunnion or wrap the trunnions with a bandage, then carefully coat it with glue.

Important! If you were unable to secure the legs in the suggested ways, then try using another method that is more effective. Drill a thin hole at the junction, pour glue into it with a syringe. To secure the adhesive, to make the connection more secure, place some weight on the seat and wait for the adhesive to dry.

• Then refurbish the seat if needed. It can be wooden or made of soft fabric. It all depends on the design of the furniture itself.
• As for updating the frame, this can be done by restoring the paintwork or using decoupage techniques.

Important! If desired, you can sew new covers in order not only to update the chair, but to make its design more interesting and attractive.

Ideas for decorating old chairs

The alteration of old chairs does not end there, you can decorate them in various ways. Below we will give options on how to restore antique interior items in an interesting way and decorate them.

Decorate an old chair using one of the suggested options:

• Decorating with fabric. This decoration option is considered the simplest, because it is enough just to drag old soft places or sew covers. You can use a similar approach to update other interior items.
• Back update. You can decorate the back using the decoupage technique or lining with some interesting fabric, such as denim. Any novice master will be able to figure out how to sheathe a chair with a back with his own hands, and this work will not take much time.
• Upholstery lining. It is important to choose a durable and high-quality fabric. It can be tapestry, jute, jacquard. In some cases, even velor is suitable.

Important! Tapestry upholstery gives the best result, since it is a reliable material that looks quite attractive on the outside.

• Decor with macrame. Even if you have never done this type of weaving before, you will succeed. You can do this: if the back of the old chair is soft, then remove the upholstery, then weave a simple mesh with a square section. You can independently adjust the size of the cells.
• Decoupage. This technique allows you to make a real decoration for your home from an old chair. It is enough to buy special paper or napkins, transfer the drawings to the surface of the chair and fix everything on top with a layer of varnish.
• Coloring. How to paint a wooden chair is a question that interests many. In principle, any paint and varnish composition intended for wooden coatings is suitable for this. In terms of choosing a color, everyone here is already determined independently, because a lot depends on the prevailing color scheme in the room and other interior items.

footage

That's how many ways there are to restore old furniture, each of them is effective and good in its own way. Which one to choose is up to you, because you can’t forget about your own desires and preferences.

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 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 restoring and decorating 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!

Don't feel like spending money on new chairs? Then you can just carry out cosmetic repairs and alteration of old stools. Breathe new life into your family and favorite things with the help of restoration!

We suggest that you familiarize yourself with 5 master classes on how to update old wooden chairs with your own hands. We will show you how to paint chairs with paint, renew seats and upholstery of chairs, make a simple cover. How to beautifully decorate a kitchen and office chair yourself

By changing the color of the chair and repainting it, you can completely change its style. Here we will turn an ordinary old wooden stool (and this is likely to be found in almost every home) into a stylish element of the apartment interior.

What color to paint a wooden chair

Any paint on wood from enamel to alkyd or acrylic.

• acrylic paint- can be erased over time and leave stains when cleaning with a damp cloth. BUT it is odorless.
• Enamel and alkyd type paints- have a strong smell, so it is better to paint in a ventilated area. But they are waterproof and won't wash off!

How to paint a chair: Large surfaces such as seat - roller. But the legs of a stool with a small brush!

Step by step painting technology :

Necessary materials:

• Old wooden stool
• Sandpaper
• Paint (dark for seat and white for legs)
• Brush

Step 1: Sanding the Chair

First you need to sand the wood with sandpaper to remove the old paint and smooth the surface.

Step 2: How to properly paint a stool with paint and varnish

We will apply the paint in 2 stages.

1. Let's start by painting the seat. After grinding, you can see the color of the wood from which the stool is made. If it is dark enough on its own, then you can apply wood varnish, leaving the natural color. If the wood is light, apply dark wood paint, but one that shows the grain of the wood.
2. Leave to dry.
3. After the paint on the seat is completely dry, you can start painting the legs.
4. Apply white paint with a brush and also leave to dry completely.
5. If the paint is heavily absorbed - then apply a second layer!

Here's what happened:

Step 3: Some Extras

Since the painting is done in a farm style, you can also. To do this, you need to make small scuffs with sandpaper.

ADVICE: To keep the stool in this form longer, apply a protective wax coating for wood over the paint.

Refurbishing kitchen chairs

Here we will update a set of four kitchen chairs, painting the legs and backs white, and dark brown on the seat.

The scheme of work is similar to that described in the master class for updating a wooden stool.

1. First you need to remove the old paint with sandpaper,
2. then alternately paint the seat dark and the rest of the chair white,
3. and at the very end apply a protective coating.

Follow our step-by-step guide to renovate a farmhouse style stool and end up with this wonderful chair:

Don't be afraid to experiment with paint colors and upholstery fabrics, or add an antique effect. Customize the chairs to suit your taste and interior!

How to reupholster a chair

Agree that it is much more comfortable and pleasant to sit on a soft chair with beautiful upholstery than on a solid wooden seat. The bench, which we will transform here, is suitable for the piano, and to be placed in the bedroom near the bed, and as a high chair for changing shoes in the hallway. Let's take a closer look at how you can reupholster a stool and reupholster it with a new fabric.

The whole project takes less than an hour, and is really easy to do on your own.

Necessary materials:

• Wooden bench for piano
• Upholstery fabric
• Scissors
• Decorative nails for furniture
• A hammer
• glue gun
• Sintepon

Step-by-step instruction:

Step 1: Paint the bench

You can skip this step if the bench is in good condition and doesn't need painting, you just want to make it soft. If painting is needed, first remove the old paint with sandpaper, and then apply a new one and leave to dry.

Step 2: Attaching the Fabric

Lay and level the fabric on the surface of the bench, tuck on one side (short) by about 2 cm, and fasten on two legs (for this, use two decorative furniture nails, one on each of the two legs), as in the photo.

After that, carefully wrap the corners of these two legs with a cloth and fix its position with a glue gun (see photo).

Now it becomes clear how much fabric needs to be removed. Leave about 2-3 cm to tuck, and trim the rest (this applies to all sides).

Then fasten the fabric on one long side of the stool, and then on the other short side in the same way as you just did on the short side. That is, tuck the fabric, fix it with a glue gun and nail it with decorative nails. After that, one long side of the chair with loose upholstery remains, we leave it for filling with padding polyester.

Attach three nails at the corners: one directly at the corner to hold the wrapped fabric, and two at the edges of the legs (at this stage, this is for the two legs on the long side of the chair with the upholstery attached).

Step 3: Making the soft upholstery
Now it's time to add the synthetic winterizer. You need to do this little by little to evenly distribute it over the chairs under the fabric. Add padding until the seat is soft enough without pulling too hard on the fabric.

Now it remains to fix the fabric on the remaining side and on the corresponding two legs. The scheme of actions is the same as in the previous step with other sides and legs.

The bench has acquired a completely different look and can now serve as a real highlight of the interior!

Decorate an office chair

A standard black office chair can be given a fun and colorful look. After such a change, your workplace will definitely become more comfortable and inspiring for new productive ideas.

Necessary materials:

• Office metal chair with upholstered seat
• Spray paint
• Construction stapler
• Upholstery fabric
• Screwdriver
• Scissors

Step-by-step instruction:

Step 1: Attach the trim

In order to make a new upholstery, you must first remove the soft part of the seat from the chair. Here you should act on the basis of the method of attaching the seat to a particular chair: it can be glued or attached with screws. Remove carefully so as not to damage anything.

After that, stretch the fabric so that it fits snugly around the seat. The fabric should go from the back of the seat a few centimeters, the excess must be cut off. We will fix the skin with a construction stapler on the back of the seat.

Step 2: Paint the Chair

Put a chair on an unnecessary sheet or old newspapers so as not to stain the floor when painting, if possible, take it outside. Choose a special paint for metal. After painting, leave the chair to dry completely.

Step 3: Attach the Seat to the Chair

Return the seat to its original position, based on how it was attached. That is, you need either a screwdriver or glue.

If you want to update the furniture in your house a little, then check out the interesting information on how to restore old chairs. After all, most often they spoil the appearance of the room. And the hand does not rise to throw away a rarity. Moreover, such pieces of furniture can serve for more than a dozen years.

Benefits of working independently

By updating an old chair and making it modern, you benefit in two ways:

• You have the opportunity to change the image of the furniture to any desired. At the same time, adjust it to the main shades of the interior. And you absolutely do not need to look for similar furniture in stores.
• Save time and money. Often the restoration of furniture is carried out with the help of improvised means. Even the costs incurred by you for the purchase of consumables are only 20-30% of the cost of a new chair.

Important: before proceeding with the decorative restoration of wooden chairs, be sure to check all fasteners. Tighten loose bolts or replace with new ones. If there are cracks, chips, debris, they need to be repaired decoratively. To do this, use a special carpentry wax. It fills the voids in the wood, hardens and looks like an integral part of the chair.

Restoration methods

Option 1: coloring

To perform the work, you can choose any shade of paint. The main thing is that it be chalk or acrylic. They lie better than others on wooden surfaces and do not exude a specific smell after drying. Also, for the process of restoring a chair with or without a back, prepare:

• Fine-grained sandpaper.
• The brushes are flat. Better synthetic (you need two pieces - for paint and primer).
• Primer (for metal or wood, depending on which chair we will paint).
• Rubber gloves.

We perform the work step by step in the following sequence:

• First you need to wash the chair from dirt and dust.
• If you are working with wooden furniture, then it will have to be sanded. To do this, carefully go over all its surfaces with sandpaper. It is important that the tree acquires some roughness. A metal chair can simply be degreased with white alcohol.
• Old varnish is best removed with a special remover.

• Now we cover the furniture with a primer. Preferably in two layers. Let each one dry for 24 hours.
• After both coats of primer are dry, you can start painting. Apply paint in 2-3 layers. Dry each one well. Make sure that it does not form smudges.

If there is a desire to make antique staining, as in the photo, then apply a contrasting darker one under the top layer of paint. And apply the top layer not with a continuous coating, but with bald spots. More often, the back, seat rim, legs and armrests are decoratively distinguished in this way.

Design option

Option 2: varnishing

Dark wooden chairs without visible chips and cracks can simply be laminated. That is to cover with a new varnish. To do this, you will first have to process the entire surface of the furniture with a wash. She will remove the old layers of varnish. For further work, prepare:

• Wide and narrow brushes;
• Mordant;

Stain shades

• Lacquer on wood.

To make the chair look noble and like new, first cover it with a layer of stain. It darkens the wood. Brings it to a shade of mahogany or wenge (if covered in 2-3 layers).

When the stain is dry, alternately apply 2-3 layers of varnish. Let each one dry.

Important: when working with varnish and stain, use a protective mask or try to restore old chairs at home on the street.

Option 3: make a soft seat

This technique allows you to get a nice piece of furniture from an old chair. Moreover, the upholstery of the seat can be adjusted in style, pattern or shade to other interior items of the room (curtains, bedspread, wallpaper, carpet). For work, prepare the following tools and materials:

• A piece of plywood to fit the seat of the chair;
• Jigsaw;
• foam cut;
• Durable upholstery fabric (note that it must withstand numerous mechanical stress well. In this case, folk, tapestry fabric, matting, etc. are excellent);
• Construction stapler;

• Emery;
• Primer;
• Acrylic or chalk paint of the desired shade (or varnish);
• brushes;
• Gloves.

If you are restoring a Viennese chair, then completely dismantle the old upholstery on the seat and back. And if you want to update just a wooden chair and make its seat soft, then use a plywood jigsaw to cut the exact blank according to the parameters of the seat.

On it or on the seat of a Viennese chair, fix the foam rubber of the desired format and thickness. Put it on glue.

Now cover the workpiece or seat with a cloth, fixing it from the inside with a construction stapler.

All wooden parts of the chair must be sanded and varnished or painted as indicated above. When the chair is completely dry, mount a new seat on it in reverse order.

With new seat

Important: if you are arranging a soft seat on a chair that did not have it before, then tuck the upholstery fabric under the seat and fix it with a stapler in the same place or nail the soft seat along the edge with decorative carnations. Looks very noble.

Method 4: decoupage

Provence or steampunk style chairs are especially beautiful in this technique. Although you can choose any other theme.

The main idea of ​​decoupage is applying a pattern cut out of paper to the surface and its further coating with varnish. For work we need:

• Sandpaper;
• Paint of the desired shade;
• Kitchen napkins with a selected pattern (you can take newspaper clippings, segments of geographical maps, interesting inscriptions, etc.);
• PVA glue;
• Brushes of different widths;
• Scissors;

The work should be done like this:

• First, treat the old chair with a wash (if it is varnished) or sand it with sandpaper. This way you will remove the old layers of coating.
• Now you need to treat the tree with a primer.
• Once it dries, paint the furniture the desired color. Apply paint in 2-3 layers. Be sure to let everyone dry.
• From the napkin, cut out the pattern along the contour. Try placing it on a chair and see how it looks.
• If you like everything, then in the intended place of the image, apply a layer of PVA glue.

• Gently distribute a thin pattern on it and smooth it well so that there are no wrinkles or creases.
• Wait for the glue to dry completely. This may take up to 4 hours.
• Once the chair is completely dry, coat it with 2-3 coats of varnish.

Your new piece of furniture is ready.

For information on how to properly perform the decoupage technique, see the video. And remember, by undertaking to restore old chairs with your own hands, you reveal your creative potential.

Write in the comments:

What ideas did you have for updating an old chair?