DIY: Two ways to decorate a boring chair

Sprucing up a wooden chair yourself is actually an easy and fun project! A couple of years ago when I was buying chairs for our kitchen table, our budget only allowed for these folding, wooden chairs that I got from Target, on clearance for $7 each! I left them as-is for about a year, but when we moved to Chicago and I had them in our living room, they suddenly seemed very dull in our bright and beautiful apartment.

I had fabric that I was going to use for an ottoman, but it didn't cover it so I thought using it to upholster two of the chairs would be gorgeous. I loved the look, but it made the other two chairs even more plain, so I painted them metallic gold. In the shining light of the apartment, the golden chairs looked so great next to the canary-print chairs.

1 yard - Yellow Bird Seed - Alexander Henry

The upholstered chairs were covered with fabric and attached to the wood with Mod Podge, because that is what I had available, and it stuck very well when I ran a test. I suspect a stronger glue or even staples would work out very well if your chairs will be high traffic or receive a lot of wear and tear. I wrapped the fabric around the top of the chair, and the seat of the chair, leaving the bottom open so that fiber fluff could be stuffed between the slats for padding.

Once you stuff the seat (which is optional, by the way), you can cover it with card board or card stock to prevent the fluff from falling out. It takes about 20 minutes total to measure the fabric, attach it along the sides and bottom of the chair. Wait for the glue to dry before stuffing in fluff.

The golden chairs were a little more time consuming, but still easy. I used a large paint brush to get the main parts of the chair, and a smaller brush to get into the smaller cracks and folding crevices of the chair. I left the chairs to dry overnight, and then coated them the next day with a waterproof sealant, also letting them dry overnight.