Advice - re upholstery

[jenniferalan]

I have an ottoman for many yrs it is a lovely shape and has a nice covering at the min except it is so worn! I would love to be able to buy material and re design it myself but not sure how i would hold the material down and i do not want to ruin it as i think it belonged to my grandparents and that is why is was never changed before now.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions, i would be very grateful,

thanks

jen

[jeana]

You can get a staple gun real cheap in Argos but I covered my one with a throw and then used elastic bands for the extra material - so it stays on without having to damage the original with staples.

[elbo]

You can get a staple gun real cheap in Argos but I covered my one with a throw and then used elastic bands for the extra material - so it stays on without having to damage the original with staples.



I did it many moons ago. You only staple the inside of the ottoman (the wooden part), so as not to damage the old material. You could cut your material a little bigger than you need. I remember when I did it, I put a layer of sponge on top and covered buttons with material and sewed them to sponge before stapling to make that special effect. Good luck.

[jenniferalan]

Thanks a million for ur suggestions and advice, i'm going to look for some nice material and a stapler and see how i get on

cheers
jen

[elbo]

Thanks a million for ur suggestions and advice, i'm going to look for some nice material and a stapler and see how i get on

cheers
jen

Not an ordinary stapler Jen - has to be a heavy duty stapling gun (probably in B & Q).

[bluecurlygirl]

I'm with elbo on this - don't buy a cheap staple gun. Invest in a good one in a hardware shop. It'll only cost a few quid more than argos but it's an investment. You'll be recovering everything when you start and the staple gun will be worth it's weight in gold by the time you're finished! Good luck with the project and don't forget to put up the before & after pics with instructions on how you end up doing it so we can all give it a bash!

[jenniferalan]

Thanks for advice, i was in b and q last night and forgot to get the stapler duh!! will post pics when i get around to doing it, cheers for all the support and advice

[kila2008]

Hi, my friend bought 6 Edwardian dining room chairs that are in dire need of re-upholstery. Unfortunately, at the moment he doesn't want to spend a fortune getting someone to do up the chairs so instead he has decided that he would like to tackle the project himself.

The problem is he has never done any upholstering before and know absolutely nothing about the subject. Are there any good websites/books for beginners? The chair seats were originally done with coil springs, hair, etc....so he will want to replace with similar materials.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!