Mid Century Swivel Chair Reupholstered

Hey everyone and Merry Christmas!

I thought I would do a post about another cool chair I've been wanting to reupholster.

I got this swivel chair years ago at a local flea market for a nice price and had it at work for a long time.  Great lines, don't you think?

Once it began to develop a tear in the vinyl (OK, after a few YEARS of living with the tear), I finally brought it home and acquired some turquoise vinyl.  Initially I wanted to try and use a sewing machine to come close to reproducing the look of the original with piping, but after a lot of thought I went with the easier approach.

The burplap underneath remains in pretty good condition so I reused it and the original cotton padding.

I picked up some upholstery quality batting at a local fabric store and cut it to fit over the original stuffing for some much needed extra padding.


Using a heat gun I warmed up the vinyl in places and carefully stretched it to fit the seat back.

In this photo you can see how the original vinyl was started at the top back of the seat back and then cardboard was stapled over top of the vinyl.  Then it was a matter of folding the vinyl over the cardboard and beginning to staple the bottom.  I left the cardboard unstapled along the two sides of the back so I could tuck the excess vinyl under the cardboard.  To finish the seat back, I picked up some brass tacks similar to the original ones, which were only used along two back edges.

The rest of the work just involved carefully stretching the vinyl and stapling it to the frame of the seat base.  I'm reasonably satisfied with the end result.

I have enough vinyl to have the base re-done by a pro using piping and fitting it better, but for now, it's going back to the office.