The Upholstery Forum

Hey everyone
,

I have 6 of these danish mid-century dining chairs that I want to reupholster. The seat seems fairly straightforward to take off since they are attached with screws. However, for the backs, I have no idea how to detach them. There are no screws, they don't slide into any direction, so I'm starting to conclude that they've been glued on. Is this possible? And will it be possible for me to detach the backs without breaking them..? Thanks in advance!

That’s the beauty of upholstery no two jobs are the same. Also no instructions. Sometimes you just have to comment past the point of no return. Just have a plan b and c. If you are 100% set on upholstering it I would
1. Try to pry the upholstered back off the chair.
2. If that doesn’t work cut the old fabric/ foam off and reverse upholster it. By getting the fabric and foam out of the way you can determine how the back in mounted. Chances are it’s glued on(there is a chance that they hid nails somehow by either way). Sometimes removing the fabric is nice just to re assure what you already know. After that just do whatever it takes to separate the back from the chair.

Worst case, the upholstered back gets damaged. At that point, I would see what thickness wood was used and make a new template, then cut the wood out and proceed as planned. Using a strong adhesive.

Keep us posted on what you find out. If there’s a will there’s a way.

I would try to pry it off first. If that inst working my guess is that they attached it by putting screws or nails through the face of the backrest. This is a common practice on fabric that has a big weave because the nail or screw will slip through the fabric without damaging it.