The No-Sew, No-Measure Way to Pad Ladder Back Chairs

Ladder back chairs are way cool for one simple reason: they last forever. When my cheap computer chair bought for a few bucks at the local department store (because, let's face it, I'm a horrible penny-pincher) finally broke and continuing my penny-pinching ways I decided to use a bean bag as a replacement ... my grandmother came by for a visit. I admire and respect my grandmother because she's such a true "lady" and though she didn't say so much, I'm pretty sure she was horrified at my idea of what constituted a temporary computer chair. A couple days later, she returned with a gorgeous ladder back chair that she didn't need anymore.

That one ladder back chair has seen years of use and abuse. Something any mother knows is that children are especially fond of things they can flip over, climb on, slide off of, and generally use as a stepping stool or acrobatic diving board. I don't know what all my child has done to the chair that has since gone to her room for her little table, but it's still in beautiful shape as only real wood products would be. The pad, however, was a different story.

So we've well established the reasons why I decided to reupholster the chair myself: 1) I'm cheap, 2) The chair is going to last another who-knows-how-many years, and 3) I'm cheap. Your reasons might be totally different. Whatever they are, here's the deal - fixing the padding on your ladder back chair is so quick and easy, it might even become a hobby. Really.

Tools You'll Need

You only need a few basic things to pad your ladderback chair. First, you'll need a bit of fabric that is about 3" wider on all sides than the "top" of the ladder back chair's seat. You'll also need scissors, glue of some sort (I recommend super glue, but watch your fingers - rubber cement or even plain ol' school glue will also work well), strong tape (I use packing tape), and something for padding (a cushion is great, but if you have quilt batting or polyfill laying around, it works just as good). Finally, you'll need a screwdriver.

When choosing your fabric, don't make the mistake I did the first time I fixed this chair. I went for something all pretty - a softly patterned satin. Within months it had stained and worn thin so that the padding could be seen. Eww. At least it was an excuse to play again!

Steps to Fixing Your Ladder back Seat

This is ridiculously easy. One of these days I'm going to get a new dining table that's fitted with nothing but ladder back chairs so that I can bead and embroider really over-the-top cushions for them ... yeah.

1. Flip Your Chair Over

If you flip your chair over and look under the seat, you should see a series of 4 screws that face you. Depending on the design of your chair, there might also be screws that run from the side of the chair inward - ignore those. All that we're interested in are the four that actually hold the seat to the chair.

Use your screwdriver to remove those screws and set them aside. At this point, the seat of your chair should pop right off - you may have to wiggle it a little if it's been in use for a long time.

2. Rip It Off

Now you get to play destruction. Cut, pull, tear, and generally do whatever it takes to get all the old fabric and padding off the seat. Newer seats usually have staples holding the fabric to the back, or under-side, of the seat. Older ones have thin nails or a glue paste.

This step will be more or less difficult depending on what was last used to keep the covering on the seat. Just try to get all the old junk off before you continue.

3. Add New Padding

It doesn't matter if you're using a cushion or quilt batting, this step is the same. First, lay the padding down on your floor and then lay the bare wood seat on top of it. Use your scissors to cut around the outside of the wood, using it as a cutting template.

When your padding is cut, make sure you have the wood seat facing up. Add a few drops of glue to each corner of the wood and carefully place the padding on top. All this really does is make sure the padding doesn't start sliding around while you're trying to add the fabric.

4. Add New Fabric

Spread your fabric out on your floor, right-side down (have the ugly side of the fabric facing you). Then, place your padded seat on top of the fabric, with the padded side down (facing away from you).

This step can be a little time-consuming simply because you have to be careful to keep everything tight or your finished seat will look lumpy and wrinkly. Starting with the longer sides of the seat (I usually start on the left out of habit), lay down a thin line of glue right along the side of the wood. Fold the fabric over this line and press with your hands. There should be at least an inch of fabric past the glue line. Use a couple pieces of tape to hold this "extra" fabric down.

Going to the other long side, pull the fabric as tight as you can before repeating the process above: lay down glue, fold the fabric over, and tape.

The top and bottom sides need to be folded like you would wrap a present. First, fold each of the corners in. Then lay down glue, fold the creased line of fabric over, and tape it together.

When you've got all four sides done, flip your seat over and make sure the fabric lays flat and tight. If not, you'll want to make adjustments before the glue dries.

5. Trim the Fabric

When the glue has completely dried, remove the pieces of tape and trim the fabric about 1/4" away from the glue line. You can leave this raw (unfinished), staple it down the way an upholsterer would, or go ahead and use a very thin line of tape to hold it close.

6. Reconstruct the Chair

To finish off, all that you need to do is flip your chair back over and screw the seat back on. Beautiful work - and wasn't it easy?