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reupholster dog per chair

last year

I have a pair of older chairs that my shih tzu used to pee on. They are Lee industries and good bones. They are skirted. I would like to reupholster them. Will recovering them relive the smell? Even though my dog no longer pees on furniture, I'm Worried my dog will pee on the new ones if the smell remains.

Featured Answer

ratherbesewing

last year

To remove the scent of urine, replace the foam, batting and of course, the fabric. Underneath it all is simply a wooden frame.

Chairs I reupholstered. The orange one is the before,

And, here are the afters.

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Comments (7)

jackowskib
last year
Seems if the chair was completely stripped of fabric and all insert material redone it could be fine.
elcieg
last year
last modified: last year
If you can find an upholsterer who will strip the chair and replace the stuffing, source around 10 yards of fabric you love all for under $1000.00 per chair (under the going rate for a new Lee Industries chair), then, sure do it.

I've been trying to have my vintage Ethan Allen wings reupholstered, but the going rate around here is about $1000.00 per chair, not including fabric.
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I am guessing that kitchendetective meant to post on my pathetic upholstery/slipcover thread. :) Your fabrics clearly look like they should be upholstery. My nutty choices look suspect. :) I would of course order a sample to be sure they are heavy enough and I am not making the covers myself, so I am sure the upholstery place will tell me if my choice is too light. I vote for the plaid again while I am posting. :) that blue herringbone almost looks grey to me from afar, but it might be my monitor!
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Laurie gave great advice, and having a few tools like the staple puller help immensely. I also don't know what it would cost to have it done professionally,as st varies across the country, but I am guessing $300-ish. But you have the perfect style to experiment with on your own. I took pictures of my old chairs, read blogs, watched YouTube videos, and luckily have sewn on all my life and love creating things. I hesitated on upholstery as it was a mystery to me, but after reading and watching videos, you'll see it isn't that mysterious. The wood on that looks to be in very good shape except the arms, so I would sand them and re-stain to blend with the rest, and I'd probably stain and put a tung oil finish on all the wood. I've had good luck with inexpensive fabric at Fabric Guru and also at Barn Fabric Center. The Barn usually has sales around holidays where they sell the drapery and upholstery fabrics for $3.99 a yard. Some of their stuff is a bit dated, but there are some great fabrics, too. I have linked them below. Here's one of mine, although it's hard to see the 'before' under Riley - After - Here is a link that might be useful: Barn Fabric Center
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elenkao, And to think I copied the ad because I thought she'd take it right down! I was only about 5 miles from the chair. I have some fabric that my sister gave me that was left over from a custom job her store did. I just saw it again, and thought it MIGHT be a possibility. I don't know where it'll eventually go, but I knew I wanted it as a 'project' chair. The 'Horchow chair' is going to have to wait til I practice on ones like this! I am in my local store where I buy most of my fabric quite often, so am always eying what they have for possible combinations for that one.
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claudia valentine
last year
Please explain why you would want to keep a chair that your dog is peeing on.

No new fabric is going to get past that.

Sorry, but that chair just needs to go.

What to do with an expensive chair that the dog peed on? You cant, with good intentions, give it away to anyone.

It would have to be stripped down to the frame and maybe an upholster might not want to deal with the pee. I am assuming that is was more than once that pups blessed it with pee. And, you suspect that it may happen again? That chair is a goner.
Laurie
last year
I agree that replacing the fabric alone will not relieve the smell. In addition to new fabric, you need to replace the foam and batting. I would also recommend removing the skirt and not having a skirt (as you see in ratherbesewing's photos). If the legs look nice, you will save some money by not having a skirt. Using a solid fabric as opposed to a print/pattern will save money, as well.

Reupholstery Yardage Chart
Olychick
last year
If the pee has soaked into the wood frame, it might be an impossible task to get the scent out. I would hate to spend $$$ and then have the scent return. There are products to neutralize the smell you could try (go to a pet store and ask) and you might be able to paint the frame to seal in the smell with something like Kilz.
socks
last year
last modified: last year
You'll have to strip the chairs down to the frame to see how much the pee soaked through. Everything but the frame will have to be tossed. I agree with Olychick above that you might be able to use a product to neutralize the smell of the wood, maybe a little sanding and paint. Nature's Miracle is a popular product for neutralizing pet urine.

Our cat peed in a chair and I took it to a reupholster (with apologies). I have no idea how or what he did, but it looks beautiful and does not smell of pee.

It's expensive to reupholster but worth it, better than tossing out good furniture. New stuff costs so much and often isn't as well made. Good luck.

There is someone who does reupholstery over on Kitchen Table. You could ask over there if you have any questions. She might be able to help. Ratherbesewing's chairs look beautiful!

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