Good dining chair upholsterers can turn a set of stained, flat seats into chairs you are happy to sit on through a long Sunday lunch. Some chairs only need the drop-in seat pads recovered; others have fully upholstered seats and backs, buttoning or stud nails, and the old Cape pieces may have riempie seats. Upholsterers often reglue loose joints at the same time. Tell us how many chairs, what kind and a photo, and we pass your request to independent upholsterers near you, who quote you directly. It is free, with no obligation.
Dining chair reupholstery: the main types
- Drop-in seat pads: a board with foam that unscrews from under the chair, recovered and screwed back
- Fully upholstered seats built onto the frame with webbing, foam and wadding
- Seat and back upholstered, plain, buttoned or finished with stud nails
- Riempie seats: leather or rawhide thongs woven across older Cape chairs, see furniture restoration
Choosing fabric for dining chairs
Dining chairs take spills, so pick a fabric you can clean: a tight weave with a W or W/S cleaning code, faux leather or a stain-resistant performance fabric. Pale linen looks good but shows every drop of gravy. A seat pad takes about 0.5 m of plain 140 cm fabric, so two or three seats come from a metre, while a seat and back take about 1 m per chair. Patterned fabric needs extra so the design sits the same way on every chair. For dining chair covers, slip covers are made to measure by some workshops, but a recovered seat usually lasts longer.
What the job involves and common mistakes
The old cover and foam come off, the board or frame is checked, and loose joints are reglued while the chair is in the workshop. New seat-grade foam goes on with wadding, then the fabric is stretched, stapled and finished with a dust cover. Common mistakes: stapling new fabric over the old cover and foam, which makes the seat too high to fit back into the frame; mixing fabric from two batches; and recovering seats on chairs whose joints rock, so they break again soon after.
What affects the price and what to ask
Drop-in pads are the simplest and are usually priced per seat. Full seats and backs, buttoning, stud nails, piping and frame repairs add labour. Larger sets often get a better price per chair. Ask:
- Is new foam included, or only the fabric?
- Will you reglue loose joints at the same time?
- How many metres for my set, plain or patterned?
What to include in your request
- Number of chairs in the set
- Drop-in pads or fixed seats
- Upholstered backs or seats only
- Buttons, stud nails or piping
- A photo of one chair, top and underneath
Dining Chair Reupholstery for homes, cars and businesses
- Homeowners and tenants: a set of six or eight stained dining chairs recovered and reglued for family meals
- Restaurants, hotels, guesthouses and lodges: restaurant and guesthouse dining chairs recovered in wipeable fabric or faux leather
- Offices and businesses: boardroom and canteen chairs with tired seat pads recovered in a hard-wearing weave
- Car, bakkie and taxi owners: the chairs in a dealership's customer lounge or canteen given new seat pads
- Boats, caravans and 4x4s: the dining chairs in a game lodge, a holiday house or a yacht club dining room
- Clinics, salons, spas and gyms: waiting room and old age home dining chairs recovered in easy-clean vinyl
- Churches, schools and halls: church hall, school staff room and municipal canteen chairs recovered in bulk
- Upholsterers, makers, designers and DIYers: antique dealers and interior designers having chair sets recovered before resale
Frequently asked questions
Can I reupholster dining chairs myself?
How much fabric do I need for six dining chairs?
Do dining chair upholsterers fix wobbly chairs too?
How long does dining chair reupholstery take?
Dining Chair Reupholstery by province and city
- Johannesburg
- Pretoria
- Centurion
- Midrand
- Sandton
- Randburg
- Roodepoort
- Krugersdorp
- Randfontein
- Germiston
- Boksburg
- Benoni
- Kempton Park
- Alberton
- Vanderbijlpark
- Vereeniging
- Durban
- Pinetown
- Pietermaritzburg
- Richards Bay
- Newcastle
- Ladysmith
- Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
- East London
- Kariega (Uitenhage)
- Mthatha
- Cape Town
- Bellville
- Paarl
- Stellenbosch
- George
- Worcester
- eMalahleni (Witbank)
- Middelburg
- Secunda
- Mbombela (Nelspruit)
- Rustenburg
- Brits
- Klerksdorp
- Potchefstroom
- Mahikeng
- Polokwane
- Tzaneen
- Kimberley
- Upington
- Bloemfontein
- Welkom
- Sasolburg