Quick DIY Guide to Recovering Your Chairs

If your dining chairs need a makeover, why not do it yourself? In addition to a chair and your chosen fabric, you will need some decent scissors and a staple gun. 

Before you begin:

• If you are going to rub down wooden chairs for light waxing, woodstain or painting, perhaps spray-paint cane or metal chairs - do that first.
• Choose a strong fabric as it shouldn't crease too much from 'bums on seats'. Maybe you have some left-over curtain material or, if buying some fabric, think about getting a little extra to use as matching or contrasting cushion covers. If using patterned fabrics, make sure you consider this before you start cutting.

Instructions:
1. If you are covering the chair back (see top image):

• First, the back of the chair back: cut a rectangular shape about 3" / 7cm larger than the area to be covered.
• Pull the fabric straight and tight at the sides and top to create a smooth appearance and staple along the edges to hold the fabric in place, folding neatly at the corners. Trim and fold any excess material as you work, to keep it neat. 
• Gently pull the bottom of the fabric down tightly and tuck under the back of the chair. Staple it underneath the seat. For a neat finish, fold the raw edge of the surplus under itself and staple again.
• Next, matching any patterns, cut another piece of fabric for the front of the chair back, again with an additional 3" / 7cm to spare at the the edges. Push the edges of the fabric into the part where the chair back and seat meet.
• Again, keeping the fabric tight and starting at the top of the chair back, fold the edge of the fabric under itself at the back edge, then staple close to the fold. Leave a gap at the edges while you fold and staple the sides of the chair back, keeping the fabric straight and  at all times.
• Pull and tuck the bottom edge behind the seat, securing it tightly by stapling at the edges.
• Envelope-fold and staple the top corners. Stand back and admire!

2. To cover the chair seat:

• Matching up the pattern with the front of the chair back, cut an oversized square, large enough to cover the seat and its side edges, plus a little extra for folding under. 
• Taking care with pattern matching, the fabric at the rear of the seat should be tucked in where it meets the chair back, folding the raw edges under at each side of the seat and stapled in place.
• Pull the front tight and staple underneath the front of the seat, folding and trimming for neat corners.
• Turn the chair upside down to finish off by folding the raw edges of the fabric and stapling.

3. Other notes:

• If the fabric is liable to stains, consider treating it with a protective spray. 
• If the staples are too obvious (e.g. on a plain fabric) you can fix a braid over them or use decorative tack nail studs. These are now available in a fantastic range of colours, not just brass.

This is a guide only! Please practice before you tackle your best dining chairs.

Instructions relate to the style of chair in the top image. Please adjust the instructions for chairs of a different style, such as shown in the image below (in this case, it would be best to remove the chair back before covering).

Patio Doors - a Wall of Glass or Air!

There are some beautiful and practical patio doors available now.
In this post, I'll list some of the popular styles with links for further exploration.

Bi folding doors, first introduced around 2002, comprise a series of glass doors that are hinged, concertina zig-zag style. Previously known as folding-sliding doors because they fold as they are pushed to slide to one side of the opening between house and garden.

When closed, the doors provide good views between  frames.

Bi folds are retractable doors. This means that all the doors can be pushed to the sides so that virtually the whole of the gap can be used - great for parties!

Frame widths vary. In the above image, the doors have aluminium frames, which are the slimmest option and can be ordered in almost any colour you can imagine (search: RAL colours). Wood/timber frames and PVC/composite frames are also available.

If your budget is tight, you can purchase DIY kits and create a hole-in-the-wall to the relevant dimensions but the project should be undertaken by a reputable builder or it could be more costly in the longer term.  If you can afford to invest a bit more, bi folds can be made to measure and installed by the manufacturers - if anything goes wrong, you don't have the supplier and builder blaming each other.

There is a UK glass door designer/manufacturer whose main sales have switched from bifolds to slide-pivot-stack style doors over the past few years. An innovative development that removed the need for hinges, making the doors lighter and the frames narrower.

These fully retractable doors have a main door which pivots open like any normal door - them comes the magic! The next door can slide towards the open door then also open like a normal door, parallel to the first door, so that you have a double width gap for access.

Guess what - the next door does the same thing; then the next door, and so on. However, you don't have to have all doors open. If you want to walk through the centre or the other end of the opening, just slide the doors along until the gap or gaps are where you want them. Brilliant!

The originators of UltraSlim slide-pivot doors make the doors to order, in their UK workshop, and install them in the quoted price. For further details, just search for SunSeeker UltraSlim doors.

If you have "exceptional" architecture, you may be interested in IQ Glass or Sightline Doors.