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Office Chair Makeover

how to upholster an office chair
Use, reuse, recycle, repurpose! Ha, those are beautiful words that we should use more.

A sad office chair is given a new life, keeping it away from the landfill.

You've probably owned one of those regular "leather" office chairs we all know aren't made from leather. 

We have two of those chairs. They've been in the office for more than seven years, and they still function very well. One of them is still in overall really good condition, the other not so much. Look at that!

It's a bit embarrassing posting its picture, but hey, that's how it looked.

What do you do with a chair like that? 

Yeah, my husband told me, "Bring it to the trash," but I just couldn't! I brought it to the basement to first try to re-upholster the seat, as it was the only thing damaged.

I flipped it upside-down. At first, I thought I could separate the seat's base by unscrewing 5 regular screws (yellow arrows), but nope, the ones with the red arrows had to be loosened too. An Allen wrench and a screw were the tools needed.

The ugly cover was quickly removed.

The new cover ... I found the burlap coffee sack on my last flea market trip. 

The old cover served as a guide. Before stapling the cover in place, padding was added to the seat.

Once the seat was fixed, the leather back didn't go that well with the burlap; it needed a change too ;)  

I didn't see screws to take the front off the back plastic cover. I tried to pull it apart with no luck :(

I was now thinking of doing a slip for this part, but when my husband came home I asked him to see how these two pieces were put together, he reply oh, that's for sure by pressure, and he was right! 

I didn't have enough force to pull them apart, though.  💪🏽   

They're connected on these four points:

Once apart, it got re-upholstered too. 

There were no more designs for the burlap sack, so I painted two lines and a number that had meaning to me.

This is how it looks now.

This makeover was very easy, and it makes me uneasy to think that I also contemplated throwing it away.

 How many times do we throw away stuff that requires simple makeovers? 

Crazy!
coffee sack used to reupholster an office chair

My red lines didn't match the color perfectly, but who cares :)

I like all its imperfections, even the stains the coffee sack had.  ;)

how to re-upholster an office chair with a coffee sack

This is how it looks in the "new" room:



More Projects going to this room:
Guest room reveal.
How the room looked before, right HERE.
The direction I want to give this room HERE.
Painted Designs on the Floor, right HERE.
Diy Daybed from the spring box
Old Lamps transformed
Old Window Memo Board
Diy Round Mirror
Tripod Side Table
Table Makeover
Blackout curtains




27 comments :

  1. Looks great!!!

    Kathy

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  2. Oh, you don't know how much I "needed" this post! :) My daughter just asked me yesterday if we could redo her chair, which, btw, looks pretty bad. This is a great tutorial! Thank you, Cristine!

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  3. What a fun idea! :) Looks great and so unique.

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  4. Wow, you really saved that chair from the landfill. What was your husbands reaction when it was done? I bet he thinks you are amazing!

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  5. Of course, you have to make the cutest rustic-looking office chair ever for your totally awesome room Cristina!

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  6. THAT is adorable! I love it!!!

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  7. Yo hace tiempo tengo mi silla de la oficina que es horrible y quiero tapizarla con un diseño más bonito ! Me gusto mucho ese lindo cambio !,

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  8. What a cute makeover! Love the use of the coffee sack!

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  9. This is such a good tutorial!! Most office chairs end up in the garbage. Maybe this post will turn that around! BTW it looks great Cristina!

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  10. I love it. We have a couple of chairs at work that need an update like this.

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  11. So awesome!! I am so glad you didn't throw it away, think of the money you saved and now you have a one of a kind chair! Love it!

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  12. You know that this is totally, completely awesome!

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  13. I never knew an office chair could look so good!

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  14. Great transformation! Loving it!

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  15. This is awesome! Love how it turned out!

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  16. Love it!! I hate those ugly chairs. What a great idea... :-)

    Lory
    Designthusiasm.com

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  17. Super cute! I hate boring office furniture/decor. I refuse to put that kind of stuff in my office.

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  18. Me encantó la transformación!!!

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  19. You are brilliant! Love this makeover - and thanks for the tip on how the seat fits together.

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  20. Such a great makeover. I can't tell you how many chairs I have gotten rid of because of tears, rips and wear ~ next time I'll give this a try! Thank you so much for sharing it at Project Inspired{d}. Our party will still be Monday nights at 8 p.m. EST but our features will be posted on Saturdays and this is one of them! Thanks so much for making our party a success. Stop by tomorrow and grab a featured button! {pinning}

    Hugs, mb

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  21. I think this might be my favorite chair ever! So cute with the pop of pink!

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  22. Definitely burlap coffee sack beauty! You did a great job, thanks for the inspiration!!

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  23. I'm so in LOVE with your office chair makeover! I love the fact that you actually took that thing apart! Gutsy move! :) I've featured you in this weekend's Party Junk. Thanks so much for linking up last weekend!

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  24. That's too cool. I have seen this done on vintage chairs many times but never on a modern one like yours.

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  25. oh cristina this is AMAZING!!! love love!!!

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