Being crafty with my man; Edition 1 - re-upholstering chairs

When I lived in my first condo in Tampa, I was lucky enough to snag some awesome furniture from various places for a really reasonable price!  My red couches, coffee table, and end table were found on Craigslist, my TV stand was free from a friend, and my boss at the time sold me her dining room table!  When I originally acquired said table, the chairs were covered in a beige/brown fabric on the seats.  I lived with it like that for the year I was in Tampa, and then the chairs and table went into storage...until now!

A little less than a year or so ago, my parents decided to re-upholster the dining room stools in their house.  My mom picked out this great fabric...chocolate brown with small cream polka dots...and covered the chairs with them.  I fell in love, and with my 50% off coupon to Jo-Ann Fabrics, I went and bought myself some as well to cover my dining room chairs with (eventually).

And now...the day had come!  Before we moved, I decided it was time to break out the fabric and re-upholster those chairs!  It is a pretty easy process, but here's a step-by-step if you need to conquer this project yourself!

Step 1 - Determine the amount of fabric you need!  I bought a yard and a half square...I had 4 chairs to cover...just measure the chair seats to determine!  You only need to cover the top, and just a small amount of the underside...you don't want a ton of overhang!

I had some extra fabric...I probably could have bought 1 yard square instead!

Step 2 - Cut the fabric to fit the chair seats.  It doesn't have to be precise at this point!

Snip snip!!!

Step 3 - Gather the fabric, pull tight, and start to staple!  We started by stapling one side flat, working the corners taut, and then stapling down the other sides...repeat repeat!

Side 1 - stapled!

Hold that fabric tight!!!

Pull the corners...this was the tricky part...almost like wrapping a present!

Starting on the sides!

Getting that final corner!!!

***Make sure that you pull the fabric tight onto the seat, and don't staple everything at once!  We put in a staple, then gathered/tightened the fabric, and stapled again!***

Step 4 - Cut off any excess fabric around the edges.

Look at that handiwork! Fabulous!

Step 5 - Screw the seats back into the chair frames!  Voila!

My dad sat on the chairs so that Justin could screw the seats into place!

My man is so crafty! (erm...handy?)

I couldn't have done this without my man! :)

So, what do you think of the finished product?  What kinds of projects have you involved your man in? :)