DIY Antique Chair Makeover (for under $10)

I am so excited about how this antique chair makeover turned out! This piece was completely transformed (for under $10) and makes the perfect little desk chair in my daughter’s bedroom!

{Note: This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Read disclosure here.}

Y’all. It’s taken me way too long to share this antique chair makeover project with you! I’m determined to finish up my daughter’s room and haven’t been as timely in sharing some of the projects that we have completed! I hope to finish all the final details in the next month or so. Then, it’ll be on to the next space – probably our boys’ room! 😊

Once I saw how cute the wood desk makeover turned out, I had to find the perfect little desk chair to use with it! I remembered that we had an antique chair stored away in the attic and knew it would be so cute if I could update it to suit the space.

The chair was part of a set of chairs that my sister gave to Hubby and I as a wedding gift. They were antiques from my brother-in-law’s family and my sister and brother-in-law decided to spruce them up so we could use them with our kitchen table. We were desperate for anything to furnish our first apartment, but their thoughtfulness to paint and recover the seats made me appreciate them even more!

We used the chairs for years, until we bought our first house and updated our kitchen table and chairs with a coordinating set we found on Craigslist. (Updating those will be an entirely different project for another day!) Even though we no longer had a use for the antique chairs, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of them all.

Needless to say, I loved the idea of using one of the chairs in Savannah’s bedroom! I’m nostalgic like that!

Here’s what it looked like when I started out.

DIY ANTIQUE CHAIR MAKEOVER (for under $10)

Here are the supplies that I used:

Sand paper
Primer – Kilz brand
Paint brush (I love Purdy!)
Paint – Sherwin Williams ProClassic Extra White in Satin
Polyacrylic top coat – Minwax Clear Polyacrylic in satin
Fabric – Gray & White Gotcha Storm Duck Cloth
Staple gun (similar)

I have no idea about the specific history of this chair or its style, but I hoped to give it a fresh and updated look that would fit my daughter’s room and her color scheme. I knew it had tons of potential!

Since I had already added lots of color in the room with other items, I decided to keep this makeover pretty simple. I used white for the wood because I thought another pop of color right up against her bright desk would be overkill. And I honestly love the crisp and clean look of white.

After I roughed it up a little with sand paper, I primed it. I believe I used two coats, but I honestly don’t remember for certain. It looked better already!

Once primed, I painted the piece, let it dry overnight, and then followed it up with a few coats of polyacrylic to protect it. I let it “cure” for as long as I could, but I was excited to keep working! (Updated: I’ve heard some say that polyacrylic can cause white pieces to “yellow” over time, but mine hasn’t so far. You may want to research this for yourself if that is a big concern for you!)

Next, it was time to update the seat cover. The fabric on the seat had loosened over time and I wanted to make sure I chose something that would hold up well! I decided on a gray geometric pattern in a duck cloth.

I loved the neutral colors with the subtle pattern, but also the texture of the fabric. It was exactly what I had in mind!

Once I had my fabric, I decided to cover right over the existing fabric. It was thick enough that I wasn’t worried about the old fabric showing through and I wasn’t planning to add any foam padding.

I looked over some tutorials online to get a feel for how to do it, but then I just went for it. My main objective was to keep the pattern straight and to pull the fabric as tight as possible.

I started stapling in the middle of the seat and then worked my way out to the edges, alternating from one side to the opposite side so that I could get it really snug. I left a few inches at the end of my rows of staples, so I’d have enough loose fabric to fold in the corners. Then I flipped it around and did the same thing on the remaining two sides.

I saw mixed opinions on the corners, so I tackled each corner a little differently, experimenting as I went along. Since this was a really simple piece, I wasn’t too stressed about getting the corners folded perfectly like a professional.

Essentially, I pulled the fabric tight into the middle of the corner, stapled, and then tried to fold the side pieces in neatly.

Once I attached the seat back to the chair, I was giddy with excitement! I was so pleased with how it turned out!!

Let’s take a peek at my chair makeover before and after…

As cute as this chair turned out, my favorite part of the project may be the price tag. Since I had everything at home from previous projects, the only money I spent was for the fabric. This antique chair makeover was less than $10! I’d say it was money well spent!

If you want to save this post for later, you can pin it here: