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How to Reupholster Vintage Diner Chairs Step by Step

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How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 67-year-old family heirloom. Scroll to the end of the post for a fun update!
How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
This project was an absolute labor of love, but I love how it turned out! This vintage diner dining set belonged to my grandparents. They bought it over 60 years ago and raised 7 daughters around that table! When my grandmother passed away I received the set to use in my own home.

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
The original color of the vintage diner chairs was a dark blue, but my grandfather reupholstered them to a mustard yellow in the 1970s, and that is the color that I remember the set being. We would sit around this table and play games and have family meals. My grandma had a couple of table cloths that fit this table that she’d use every night for dinner. I have them in my linen closet and love using them!

No photo description available.

(My grandma in the 1960’s)

Image may contain: 2 people, people sitting, table and indoor

(Having a tea party with Great Grandma. She passed away a month after this photo was taken. I’m so glad that my kids were able to know her as long as they did.)

My grandma also cut out her sewing patterns on this table, paid bills, and wrote letters. She wrote many many letters and was a big fan of “snail mail”.  There are so many memories associated with this set, not just from me, but from all of the family members on that side of the family!

 

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
When I received the set 4 years ago it was in great shape overall, but I could see a few areas that would need attention down the road. There were a few nails popping out of the top of the chairs and one chair had a tiny rip in the seat. There were also a few stripped screws on a couple of the chair backs. I tapped the nails back into place and that bought us time as I decided how to approach restoring them again. One chair has two legs that are bending in, so that will need to be addressed, but for being 67 years old you won’t find a set more cared for than this one.

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
When I was ready to take the plunge I started by taking each chair apart, removing the upholstery tacks, and examining the wood underneath.

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
It was tedious, but not hard.

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
We fixed any areas that were stripped and replaced all of the screws.

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
We also replaced all of the nails with screws so that they wouldn’t work their way out of the tops of the chair backs in the future.

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
The HARDEST part was deciding on a color for the new vinyl! I liked the mustard color, but couldn’t find any vinyl that was the same shade. I ordered a bunch of samples, and would definitely recommend doing that before purchasing 10 yards of fabric or vinyl online. None of the samples looked like they did online! I contemplated red, gray, and even some sparkly hues, but in the end I settled on a beautiful seafoam shade. I ordered 10 yards from Fabric.com for about $8/ yard.

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
After fabric, new upholstery nails and screws, and chair leg caps, I ended up spending just over $100 to cover 7 chairs and a booster seat!

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
Each chair took me about an hour and a half to do. If I didn’t run into wrist problems I could have set aside a couple of days and finished them all, but all of the time spent pulling out nails and tacks took a toll on my hands and wrist. I ended up being in a lot of pain and even had a hard time sleeping through it! So I slowed down and worked on one or two chairs a week.

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
It was all worth it though, just look at the shiny vintage diner chair!

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
THIS STOOL! Such a favorite of mine as a child, and all of the grandkids. Many fights were fought over who got to sit on the stool during mealtime. Ruby has now claimed it for herself and since everyone else is too big to sit in it, she doesn’t have to share.

How to reupholster vintage diner chairs, step by step! A labor of love and a simple way to preserve this 60-year-old family heirloom.
I think of my grandma every time I see this table. It is truly a family heirloom and I hope that I can keep it in the family at least another 60 years.

2019 UPDATE!

It’s been a few years since I reupholstered my chairs and they are still in GREAT shape! We couldn’t love them more. Two chairs had legs that were starting to bend in. My husband, who can fix anything, wasn’t sure what to do and didn’t want to make them worse. After all, they are 70 years old. It was stressing me out to have the kids sit on them so he suggested that I order replicas and store the originals until the kids are older.

Friends, this was my Christmas gift and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I shopped around and decided to go with Heffron’s.

They did a fantastic job and designed 6 new chairs for our dining set and shipped them right to my door. The color is exactly the same as the ones above, with the addition of a two-toned seat back. You can’t even tell that they aren’t vintage chairs because these are made exactly how the first set was made. Restaurant quality gorgeous design. Our booster chair/step stool is the only seating that isn’t being stored right now. That thing will never break, it’s so sturdy! This is not sponsored, I was just so happy with the entire process! So if you’d like to order chairs like these or barstools, or anything vintage definitely check them out! 

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Comments

  1. the cape on the corner says

    January 20, 2017 at 12:37 pm

    wow, those look gorgeous! when we bought our house, there were 4 red barstools in the basement, exactly as i had intended to buy actually, but we did have to really clean up the chrome. i love that you used the grey for the fabric. gorgeous!
    b

    Reply

  3. Kreativk Net says

    January 20, 2017 at 11:55 pm

    A wonderful transformation! I love the new colour and wow, these are really precious, they have been through so many family get togethers! Thank you for sharing at Sweet Inspiration, wishing you a lovely weekend!

    Reply

  6. diy180 says

    January 23, 2017 at 8:09 pm

    What a cool table and chairs. Reminds me of the set my mom had growing up. It’s looks great and love the color. Thank you for sharing at Dishing it and Digging it link party.

    Reply

  7. Fabiola Garcia says

    January 23, 2017 at 10:03 pm

    Wao!, what a great transformation you did to that already beautiful dining set. Love the legs. I have the same condition in my right hand, and pulling all those nails or staples kills me. I will only do 2 chairs in a day. I bought a bracer at the pharmacy and after applying a cream to my hand, I will put my bracer to sleep, is the best to relief the pain. Hope you get better relief for your hand pain.

    Reply

  8. Theresa says

    January 23, 2017 at 10:42 pm

    I love how your chairs turned out. Stunning set. Definitely a labor of love. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the set & memories for a long time. Thanks for joining us at the Inspiration Spotlight party. Pinned & shared.

    Reply

  11. Leanna says

    January 24, 2017 at 3:39 pm

    These are absolutely stunning antique chairs. My grand parents had a set as well and I can remember them talking about how they were made from real metal and could be welded etc. This is a lovely family heirloom. Congratulations on the restoration.

    Reply

  13. Paula says

    January 26, 2017 at 2:15 pm

    You did such a good job with this and it looks fantastic in your home. I know your grandparents would be thrilled to know that this set is still being used and enjoyed.

    Reply

  14. Pili Gomez says

    January 26, 2017 at 3:05 pm

    This is a true labor of love but really worth the effort. I bet your grandparents would be very happy to see them shining again. I am planning to feature this at the party tomorrow.
    Enjoy the rest of the week!

    Reply

  15. acraftymix says

    January 27, 2017 at 1:10 am

    They look fabulous Brandy, great job. Hope your wrist and arm are feeling better. That sure was a lot of takes and nails you removed.

    Reply

  17. Alayna says

    January 27, 2017 at 9:24 am

    Very pretty. That color goes perfectly with the rest of the dining area. And I can’t believe how shiny and new they look overall considering their age and use! Great job. I have reupholstered a couple of things and my wrist hurts just reading about your experience 😉

    Reply

  20. SuziesView (@SuziesView) says

    January 28, 2017 at 4:33 pm

    First of all wow I love what you did with the table. I love that table. Plus your room in itself is stunning and right up my ally. It is so pretty. I am so happy to view your post from Friday Faves. I will see ya around!

    Reply

  21. Christine at Light and Savvy says

    January 29, 2017 at 1:01 pm

    Hi Brandy! Thank you for sharing at Wonderful Wednesday! And Fantastic job on the chairs! Your amazing project will be featured at our next weeks party:) Please stop by and see it…and share with us again! Hugs- Christine at Light and Savvy

    Reply

  23. Jen Panguluri says

    January 31, 2017 at 5:19 am

    Brandy the set looks fantastic! It looks vintage and up-to-date at the same time. I recently re-did a chair and had similar issues to you, the first being what fabric to use. I settled on the fifth one! And when I was done with just one chair I had major shoulder and wrist/hand issues. On the backs of your chairs did you use a staple gun for the front part, then just tack the back piece of fabric with the upholstery tacks? Thanks!

    Reply

    • Brandy says

      January 31, 2017 at 7:47 am

      Yes! My grandpa used upholstery tacks when he covered the chairs in the yellow vinyl years ago and they held up well! So did the same. Thank you for the compliment! And the shoulder and wrist issues? Ugh! But worth it in the end, right?

      Reply

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