DIY Network

Fabric on Wood, Part 1 Yes, you can upholster wood furniture. From "B. Original" episode DBOR-133

If you have wood furniture with a drab or damaged finish, the only way to fix it is by refinishing, right? Wrong.

You can give wood furniture a new face without a drop of paint or a dribble of stain. Instead, B. Original and cover it with fabric.

Michele Beschen shows how to "upholster" furniture by gluing down fabric to give it a whole new look. The techniques are easy—especially if you choose a piece without a lot of hard-to-handle curves. Scroll down to see how it's done.

Fabric transforms this drab dresser...

Into a hip new piece of furniture!

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Fabric on Wood

Materials:

furniture to cover
fabric (three or more patterns)
spray adhesive
fabric glue
brayer
razoe blade
scissors
Fray-Check and small paintbrush to apply.

Safety Alert: Work in a well-ventilated area whenever you use spray adhesives. Ventilation is especially important for this project, because it calls for so much spray adhesive use.

	Figure A
	Figure B
	Figure C

• Choose a piece of furniture that has gentle curves and not a lot of different angles. Sand the piece down and clean up any sawdust with a tack cloth before starting to glue down fabric.

• Use different fabric patterns and colors as desired. Most successful projects use 1-2 main fabric prints/colors for the larger pieces, with 1-2 colors for the smaller trim pieces.

• Always press your fabric to remove any wrinkles before applying to furniture. Use spray starch when pressing if you want to give the fabric more body.

• Apply fabric to one section of the furniture at a time, working from top to bottom, saving the small trim areas for last.

• Cut individual fabric pieces slightly larger than the sections they will cover.

• To apply fabric, spray the wrong side of the fabric with spray adhesive.

• Start to apply the fabric at one end of the section and work your way over to the other side, smoothing as you go (figure A).

• Use a brayer to work out any air bubbles (figure B).

• After the piece is glued on, trim closely to the edge with a razor blade (figure C).

• Continue to cut, press and glue.

• For furniture legs, use one piece of fabric that will go all the way around the leg (figure D). To shape around a curved leg, make pleats in the fabric while working it around the leg (figure E).
  

  Figure D

  Figure E

  
  

• Use a good fabric glue to glue any loose ends.

• Trim all threads that may be frayed.

• Paint all edges with a small brush and Fray-Check.

When all of the main sections of your piece have been covered, take a break and go to Part 2 for tips on finishing up your fabulous new furniture.