From Ugly to As Good As New - Chair Refurbishment

Ever wondered whether a piece of furniture that new costs two-hundred-something dollar is worth the cleaning/repair efforts? Here is how it’s totally worth it!!!

- An old/used office chair «Fjellberget» from IKEA
- Screw-drivers hexagon size 5 and star (the IKEA instructions only tell about the first couple of screws, for the others on the seat’s plate I tested out what fits)
- washing machine, -powder or soap (I use Gall-soap for stains and Aleppo soap as detergent)
- razor for textiles
- cleaning equipment for wood and metal parts
- furniture polish, mix of bees wax and coconut oil, cloth to apply
- bow needle/tool to move the zipper

Screw apart the base and the seat module by the four hexagon size 5 screws under the seat.

The seat module is further dismantled by the four screws (star-form) on the underside where the seat plate (and sitting cushion) and the wooden back rest are attached to each other.

The seat is covered with a textile that has a zipper underneath the seat. Partially this textile is also hold in place with staples. Remove these with suitable tool(s), and try to free the zipper that is a bit hidden under a little textile cover. I used a bow needle as used for leather sewing to «grab» the zipper and open the cover along the whole edges around.
Finally, you see the cover on the top being fastened through the seat plate by 2 cords, so thread them through the according holes.

When the cover is loose, give it a proper round with stain remover (bleech if need be) and soap to wash in the washing machine - such a surprising result: the cover turned out 5 times whiter!;)

Now put the textile cover to a round with the razor. Such a big difference! Another 2 times whiter your seat will get!

Treat the wood with furniture polish made of just two ingridients: bees wax & coconut oil

Wood gets often pretty «dry» over time, so it is a good idea to clean it with a wet sponge first and then give it some nutrition, i.e. wax and/or oil to fill the pores and protect against water loss and UV light, stains, etc.

Now everything goes in reverse.
Get the washed (and dry) cover over the seat plate and cushion again. Since this might be tricky use some different techniques as with bicycle tires ;)
At the same time you will have to thread through the cords as they were and fasten them (with new staples or little screws.
Close the zipper with the round needle as done for opening it earlier.

Reassemble the back rest and the seat with the star screws.

Then assemble the seat module to the base again with the four hexagon screws.

Apply new filt pieces under the chair’s feet.

Good as new office chair, ready for use for some more years to come!