reupholstering dining room chairs

[Brisen]

So we have these nice dining room chairs that have been handed down from my mom's family. They have foam seats covered in some kind of velvety stuff. My kids have spilled *everything* on them and I need to recover them. I have the fabric; the part I'm dragging my feet on is getting foam. It just occurred to me that I might simply be able to *wash* the foam stuff. Any suggestions for doing that?

[SleeplessMommy]

Foam can deteriorate with time... take the fabric off and look at the condition. I did a sofa, and the cushions were 30+ years old, but a special shape. Instead of trying to carve $100 of foam into that shape, I covered the cushions with a layer of quilt batting, then fabric.

If you need replacement foam, look at Jo-Anne fabrics. They have lots of shapes. And quilt batting!

[eepster]

Have you looked inside yet to see what kind of shape the stuff is in?

When I reupholster things I always try to disturb as little as possible. Sometimes I upholster right over the old fabric, but it doesn't sound like this will work for you. Old foam tends to be fragile, so if there isn't an obvios odor, I just add a new layer of batting over it. If it does turn out to be too deteriorated to save and have a hard time finding foam by the foot you can use a thin foam matress or pad. The best thing to cut foam with is an electric carving knife.

HTH

[Brisen]

Thanks for the tips, guys!

This foam has had milk spilled on it multiple times -- I do try to get as much of it out as possible, but I'm pretty sure the foam isn't clean enough to use again the way it is. I hadn't realized it could get fragile, but it makes sense.

What I would really like to do is put wooden seats on these chairs, but I have a feeling that would be much more complicated.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by Brisen

What I would really like to do is put wooden seats on these chairs, but I have a feeling that would be much more complicated.

It might be do-able. What type of seats do they have? Do you have pictures?