How Much to Reupholster 6 Dining Chairs?

What It Typically Costs

Reupholstering six dining chairs in the UK generally falls between £300 and £900 if you use a professional upholsterer, working out at roughly £50 to £150 per chair. Doing it yourself brings the total down to somewhere around £90 to £250 for six chairs, since you are only paying for fabric, foam and fixings. Chairs with padded backs as well as seats sit at the upper end of both ranges, sometimes higher, because the labour roughly doubles.

The spread is wide because three variables move independently: the complexity of the chair, the price of the fabric, and whether you are paying for skilled labour. Understanding each one lets you predict where your own project will land.

Where the Money Goes

For a professional job, labour usually accounts for 50 to 70 percent of the total. A simple drop in seat pad takes an experienced upholsterer perhaps 30 to 45 minutes. A fully sprung seat with a padded back, piping and a skirt can take three hours or more. That difference explains almost all the variation in quotes.

Fabric is the second largest cost. Six seat pads need around 2m of 140cm wide fabric, rising to 2.5m if there is a pattern to match. Serviceable heavy domestic upholstery fabric starts around £20 per metre. Mid range performance velvet and quality weaves sit between £35 and £60. Designer fabric can exceed £100 per metre, at which point the cloth alone costs more than the labour.

Materials beyond fabric are comparatively minor. High resilience foam for six seats costs roughly £40 to £80 depending on thickness and density. Polyester wadding adds £15 to £25. Staples, calico and hessian together might be another £20. A fire retardant interliner, if the fabric needs one, adds around £8 to £12 per metre.

Chair Type Changes Everything

Drop in seat pads are the cheapest scenario. The pad lifts out, usually held by four screws or simply by friction. You staple new fabric around the existing board and drop it back in. Six of these might cost £250 to £400 professionally, or £90 to £150 as a home project.

Fixed seats attached to the frame require the old fabric to be stripped in place, with the tacks or staples removed one at a time. Expect £400 to £600 professionally for six.

Seat and back combinations roughly double the surface area and considerably more than double the difficulty, because backs involve curved edges and often need the fabric fitted from two sides. Six of these commonly run £600 to £900, and ornate versions can go beyond that.

Chairs with buttoning, piping or a fully sprung base sit in a different category again. Deep buttoned dining chairs can reach £200 or more per chair professionally, because each button is individually pulled and tied.

Doing It Yourself: A Realistic Picture

Drop in seats are genuinely achievable for a first time attempt. The tools required are a staple gun, a staple remover or old screwdriver, sharp shears and a pair of pliers. A manual staple gun works but tires the hand across six chairs. An electric or pneumatic one costs £30 to £60 and makes the job considerably faster and neater.

Allow around 45 minutes per chair for a first attempt, dropping to 25 minutes once you find a rhythm. The main skill is tension: pulling the fabric taut and even without distorting the weave, and folding the corners consistently. Practise the corner fold on the chair that will end up least visible.

Fixed seats and padded backs are a considerable step up. They are possible for a confident DIYer, but the finish is where amateur work shows. If the chairs are valuable or you want a sharp result, this is the point at which paying a professional starts to make sense.

Is Reupholstering Worth It?

The honest calculation compares the reupholstery cost against replacement. If six chairs cost £700 to reupholster and comparable new chairs cost £500, the maths only favours reupholstery when the frames are genuinely worth keeping.

It makes sense when the chairs are solid hardwood with tight joints, when they are part of a matched set with a table you are keeping, when they have a shape or provenance you cannot replace, or when you want a specific fabric that is not available ready made.

It makes less sense when the frames are loose or made from softwood, when the joints creak, when the style no longer suits the room, or when you are only doing it because the fabric is marked. A single stained chair can often be cleaned rather than recovered.

If replacement turns out to be the better route, our modern fabric dining chairs UK sale range covers a wide spread of upholstered styles, and buying a set means the finish and proportions are already resolved.

Getting an Accurate Quote

Send photographs of the chair from the front, side and underneath. The underside tells an upholsterer more than any other angle, because it shows how the seat is fixed and what construction sits inside.

Ask specifically what is included. Some quotes cover labour only and expect you to supply fabric. Others include a fabric allowance up to a certain price per metre, with anything above that charged as an extra. Ask whether foam replacement is included, whether the frames will be checked and reglued if loose, and whether collection and return are part of the price.

Get three quotes. Prices vary regionally, with London and the South East typically 20 to 30 percent above the rest of the UK. A local upholsterer working from a home workshop is often significantly cheaper than a shop with a showroom, and the quality is frequently identical.

Ways to Reduce the Cost

Strip the old fabric yourself before handing the chairs over. Removing tacks and staples is slow, unskilled work, and doing it yourself can knock a meaningful amount off a labour quote. Confirm with the upholsterer first, because some prefer to strip chairs themselves to inspect the frame as they go.

Buy fabric from a remnant or clearance range. Upholstery suppliers regularly sell end of roll pieces at a substantial discount, and 2.5m is a small enough requirement that remnants often work.

Consider recovering only the seats if the backs are wooden or still in good condition. Many dining chairs have a solid or slatted back that needs nothing more than cleaning.

Do the chairs in two batches if the cost is difficult to absorb at once, keeping careful note of the fabric batch number so the second set matches.

Planning the Project

Whichever route you take, order fabric samples first and view them in the room where the chairs live. Confirm the total metreage before ordering, allowing for pattern repeat. Photograph each chair as it comes apart so you have a reference for reassembly. Keep the old fabric pieces, since they make ideal templates for cutting the new ones.

If the total cost pushes towards the price of a new set, it is worth comparing directly. At Furniture in Fashion we list full specifications for every dining chair we stock, with free delivery to most UK mainland postcodes, so the comparison is easy to make before you commit to either path.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to reupholster one dining chair in the UK?
Between roughly £50 and £150 per chair professionally, depending on whether it is a simple drop in seat or a padded seat and back. Fabric is usually additional unless the quote states otherwise.

How long does it take to reupholster six dining chairs?
A professional typically turns six simple chairs around in a few days once fabric has arrived. As a home project, allow a full weekend for six drop in seats.

Is it cheaper to reupholster or buy new dining chairs?
Reupholstering is usually cheaper for simple drop in seats and often more expensive for chairs with padded backs. Compare the quote directly against the cost of a comparable new set before deciding.

Can I reupholster dining chairs myself with no experience?
Drop in seat pads are a realistic first project with a staple gun and sharp shears. Fixed seats and padded backs need more practice, and the finish is where inexperience shows.

How much fabric do six dining chairs need?
Around 2m of 140cm wide fabric for plain seat pads, or 2.5m if the pattern needs matching. Seat and back combinations can need 4m or more.