HOW TO RECOVER A BAR STOOL EASILY!

Happy Friday and Happy May 1st – can you believe how fast the time is going? Even with the slow pace of things in the world at the moment, for me it seems like time is still flying. I have been busy! And today I’m back with another super easy DIY – how to recover a bar stool!

When we first got our gorgeous Chippendale bar stools, I knew that I’d eventually want to recover them. That’s just what I do! I love to find easy, inexpensive ways to update our home, and this is one of those projects – anyone can do this, I promise. The best part? I’ve done it in such a simple way, you can knock this out in a couple of hours.

Keep scrolling to see what you need, and how incredibly simple it is to recover a bar stool!

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HOW TO RECOVER A BAR STOOL – THE EASY WAY!

I wanted a new look in our kitchen, something light and casual that will live through the seasons – for now that is! I’ll probably tackle this again, because it’s a fantastic way to breathe new life into any space. I’ve recovered our living room ottoman at least 4 times now and it always is a game changer.

Before I get into the steps – below is a look at the before. I loved them with the simple off white fabric before, but you can’t deny the gorgeous new Toulouse Stripe from Tonic Living elevates the look so much! I already had the fabric so it was a no brainer! If you’d like a tour of my kitchen, check out my Spring kitchen here!

Can you believe the difference? It’s subtle, but has so much impact. The grey stripe echoes the grey in our roman shades, which I really love. They look fresh and updated and the addition of a new pattern in our kitchen is just what I was looking for.I almost went with a blue allover print for summer, but decided for now I wanted to keep it more neutral. The new striped fabric adds a casual elegance and is just perfect in our kitchen. Keep scrolling to see how to recover a bar stool!

MATERIALS NEEDED TO COVER BAR STOOLS

RECOVER YOUR BAR STOOLS STEP BY STEP!

STEP ONE – I combined a few simple actions in step one. Remove your bar stool seats – mine just pop right out – you may need to remove yours with a screwdriver or drill. Lay your fabric face down on a flat surface. Place your bar stool seat face down on top of the reverse side of your new fabric. Make sure it is centered on the fabric and the pattern is straight. Cut fabric in a square, leaving about 3 inches all around the seat. Secure your fabric in place by stapling each side in the center. This will keep it from shifting all over. Notice that I left the existing seating fabric and backing. I didn’t want to deal with removing all those staples and then reapplying the backing as well.  I’ll change this fabric again, so the easier, the better…and no one can see it anyway!  STEP TWO – Staple all four sides, working your way from the center of each side to the corners. I prefer to leave the corners until last, so you have more flexibility with pulling the fabric if needed. If by any chance you make a mistake – remove the staple with a screwdriver and pliers, no big deal! Trust me, I had to remove many! My staple gun was acting up on me, so it took a little wrestling to get it all done! STEP THREE – Start with your first corner. Fold the fabric in to create a triangle, making sure to pull it tight. STEP FOUR – Holding the folded corner (don’t staple it yet!), fold one side over that folded corner, pulling any excess fabric to keep it from bunching up. STEP FIVE – Again, while holding everything in place without stapling, fold the other side over the folder corner and the first folded side. Pull the fabric tight on both sides, making sure it’s even and there are no bumps or excess along the outer edges of the bar stool seat.STEP SIX – Secure the folded sides and corner with a staple, as close to the corner as possible. This will keep everything in place. Repeat steps five and six on all four corners STEP SEVEN – Trim some of the excess fabric at the corners, under the folds with your scissors. This will minimize bulk before you complete stapling the rest of the folded fabric. FINAL STEP –  After securing the corner with the first staple and trimming the excess fabric, continue to staple along the edges of the fold. I used two or three staples. Repeat on all corners. Add any staples you think you need to secure everything. Trim off any excess fabric along the edges and voilà! You now have a brand new, recovered bar stool!

OUR RECOVERED BAR STOOLS!

We couldn’t be happier with the way our bar stools turned out. My fabric is quite thick, and our seats fit into a frame, not on top of the frame. We had to put some pressure to get them to fit back into place, but they fit like a glove. You may want to remove the original fabric (and backing of course) if it’s on the thick side. Ours was not, it was thin enough to cover with the new fabric.If you have stools like ours, I even suggest trying one stool first if you don’t want to remove the fabric, to ensure it will fit back into place. Ours took some coaxing, but they fit perfectly. We absolutely love results!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful! If you want to do this yourself, I promise you’ll find it so simple to do and worth every second! It’s a simple, inexpensive way to update any space.Thank you as always for reading with me! How to recover a bar stool is so much easier than you think. I’d love to hear from you if you tried these simple steps! Tell me how they turned out! Happy DIYing and Happy Weekend! xo