Recovering an office chair

[Puzzler]

Has anyone ever done this? I scored an unexpected bargain at work yesterday. One of the managers popped in to let us know that estates management were selling off office chairs for a fiver. These were in perfect order apart from the fabric which was badly stained. I emailed the relevant person and found there were two left. For a £5 I decided it was worth a punt.

The biggest challenge is separating the cushion parts (seat and backrest) from the hard plastic. I don’t want to damage the actual chair prising them off. I have been looking at tutorials but I might see if YouTube has some videos. I may be imagining it but I vaguely recall something on TSP about this.

[snoozi soozi]

Pretty sure @Manuela has. Seem to remember her posting it on here....?

[wrenkins]

efemera did one. 

[Efemera]

Yes I did this one.. cost me £2 from Immanuels ...the hardest part was taking of the plastic/rubber trim and taking out all the staples.. I have a heavy duty staple gun ( commandeered from my days a a window dresser!)

[Greybird]

Yes. I've done it several times. A lot depends on the type of chair. Usually, you can run a blunt-ended table knife round between the plastic and the seat pad and it will pop out. You can then just use a staple gun to attach the new fabric. You might have to unscrew the back pad. I used the staple gun to cover the front of the pad, then applied piping round the edge. I hand sewed the back covering on using a curved upholstery needle.

The last one I did though was not so straightforward. It's a more modern high backed type. The seat has to be unscrewed and the plastic underside just drops down. On mine, all the screws are different so need to note which goes where. Not easy to staple into plastic and I ended up glueing. The back partially popped out and I used glue again.

Somewhere I have some pictures. Will post if I can find them.

[Puzzler]

Oh great. I am encouraged to do this. Haven’t an appropriate piece of fabric but I am sure I can find something. 

[Iminei]

Come and rootle around in my stash @Puzzler  ... I have more than enough

[Iminei]

Loving your wallpaper @Efemera  x

[wrenkins]

It was the wallpaper I remembered @Iminei. The fabric was such a good match! 

[Manuela]

Pretty sure @Manuela has. Seem to remember her posting it on here....?

No, not me. I only restore and recover wooden or metal furniture. I have zero experience with plastic office chairs.