Staples

Circular flows require perseverance, a staple remover, and gloves

I purchased a bright orange roll of upholstery fabric many years ago at a going-out-of-business sale. I loved the bright color and used it to have two chairs reupholstered. Then I had children. Over the years, the chairs were well-loved but ended up grubby. I tried many times to clean them but never was successful. Last year, I decided my children were old enough that I could enjoy nice things again and looked into reupholstering my chairs. I had more of the orange fabric and instead of paying someone else to reupholster them, I found an upholstery class at a local upholstery studio. About a week before the class, the teacher emailed recommending that our project be torn down before we arrived.

The teardown of a single orange chair took me approximately 10.5 hours. It took that long for two reasons: 1) I wanted to preserve the fabric to use as a pattern and 2) staples.

Thousands of staples. Staples on every layer of the upholstery. Staples on the welting. Staples attaching the fabric to the frame. Staples attaching the lining. Staples attaching the webbing that makes the seat. Can you tell I didn’t know what I was getting myself into?

I started the teardown at home and made good progress. At least I thought so at the time. I continued the teardown in the class. Thankfully my teacher had the correct tools for removing staples meaning I spent 6 hours at home disassembling with the wrong tools. On the day of the class, I spent 4.5 hours out of the 6-hour class de-upholstering. After finishing the teardown, I only had time to put new webbing on the seat, add padding, and cut out, sew, and attach part of the seat cover.

With a single chair unfinished, I signed up for another class. Unfortunately, all the classes are full until June. At the June class, I will come with both chairs completely torn down and all the fabric cut out. I hope to finish at least one chair and gain the skills needed to finish the other chair. Between now and June, I hope to enlist a friend to help me cover the seat cushions outside of class so I can focus on reupholstering the chair itself in class.

When I had the chairs upholstered the first time, it was quite expensive. The classes are not cheap but supply all materials and tools except for the fabric. Reupholstering the chairs myself may end up being more expensive but I am learning a new skill which I will take with me. Choosing to take on the task was a decision I didn’t have to make, but I am glad I did. It is helping me understand why upholstery is so costly especially when you factor in the manual labor, time, and the yards of expensive fabric required.

Reupholstering the chairs gives them a new life, a new circular flow. Tearing down with the intention of reuse takes time, patience, and the correct tools, making it a task not for the faint of heart. I could have easily solved my “grubby chair problem” by buying new chairs, likely at a lower cost than reupholstering my old ones. But for me, that wasn’t an option. I have no regrets about the time I’ve spent so far on this project because I love the chairs, the fabric, and the opportunity to learn a new skill.