DIY: Dining chairs makeover

Hello all! It's been such a long time since I've posted something, after moving and summer happening I finally have a few min to share something I did in between trips to the pool, folding laundry, baking cookies...I could go on and on and on. You know how it is. 
We recently bought a small dining set from IKEA, It was the right price tag and the right size for our apartment. After a while every time I'd walk by it or setting the table for dinner, I would look at our table and chairs and think, wow this is a really boring looking dining set! Since budget is tight I knew buying a new one was out of the question, but what to do to make it more like us? It needed color, it needed to come alive. 
After deciding what color I wanted to go with and what fabric I wanted for the seat area, here's what I did.

This is what I started with..see what I mean when I say boring?!












I knew I didn't want to sand all the chairs, that would take days and honestly who has time for that, not a stay at home mom! Took a trip to Home Depot and purchased a primer and the color I had chosen.
I took apart the first chair, kept all the screws in a zip lock bag so I wouldn't lose them, I'm a scatter brain so this step was vital for me.

Here are some of the pieces primed and ready to go I used two coats just to make sure it was completely covered. Remember to always wash your brushes right after you are done, just warm water will do the job (if you are not using oil based paint, if you are you'll need pant thinner). If you didn't finish priming but want to continue later on and don't have time to wash your brushes, you can cover them up tightly in either tin foil or Cling Wrap, it will keep the moisture for about a day. If you don't think you can go back to it after a day, I recommend you wash the brushes.

Next day time for color!

 Two coats did it!

Now for the seat part. This took more work, I didn't have any padding on my chair and I wanted to add some for the sake of my bum! I bought this padding at Jo Ann Fabrics.

I bought Airtex Regular Density. They had thicker foam but it's a bit more pricey so I went with this one. Now that that the chairs are finished I've been very happy with this size. 

The foam was just a tad bigger than the seat area of my chairs so I just traced the shape with a marker and cut off the excess.

Once I had all the foam cut up to the size I needed I used wood glue to attach the padding to the chair.

Once I had them all glued down I let them sit and dry over night. My son wanted Timmy and Easter Mickey to be in the picture :)

Next day was time to cover up the seats. I had chosen and purchased the fabric I wanted at Jo Ann Fabrics. You'll need a staple gun and a hot glue gun, if you want to do it just like I did.

I laid the fabric print side down and the seat on top. I cut a square leaving about three inches of extra fabric to fold over. You'll need more or less depending on the thickness of the padding on your chair.

With my hot glue gun all heated up time to glue down the fabric. I folded the sides and corners  in as you would when wrapping a present and glueing down as I went.
You see the exposed wood? I stapled a piece of felt fabric to cover that up, but forgot to take a picture of that step :( sorry! Didn't I mention I'm a scatter brain?

This is what my corners looked like as I was glueing them down. The process takes a long while so make sure you'll have time for this step. Please be careful when using a hot glue gun!

Once my fabric was glued down and dried up, it was time to put the chair back together. All screws back to where they should be and done! I am very happy with how they turned out :) I hope you enjoy doing this project as much as I did. Remember safety first! So be careful when using the hot glue gun and staple gun. Don't let any little ones or pets nearby.

Till next time!