A Quick Fix For Those Inexpensive Upholstered Chairs

A Quick Fix For Inexpensive Upholstered Chairs || Worthing CourtPin

When you buy an inexpensive upholstered chair, have you noticed that they seem to sit slightly lower to the ground than other chairs?  I think the normal seat height for an upholstered chair is around 19″ – 20″ from the floor, but most of the inexpensive ones that I’ve seen are only 17.5″ – 18.5″ high.  I’ve always assumed that it’s a money saving thing for the manufacturer and is one reason why the chair isn’t more costly.

Usually, I just live with the slightly lower chair, but the chairs for our office makeover were just a bit too low.  The seat of these chairs was only around 17″ high.  Pookie and I are tall people, so we really noticed the lower height.  

I love these chairs and think that they’re perfect for our office, so I certainly didn’t want to replace them!  My solution involved a quick trip to Home Depot to purchase unfinished furniture legs that are 2.5″ taller than the ones that the chairs came with.  In this image, you can see that I’ve already replaced the legs on the chair on the right.  Can you see the slight difference in height compared to the chair on the left?

A Quick Fix For Inexpensive Upholstered Chairs || Worthing CourtPin

Let me show you what an easy fix this was!

Step 1: Purchase the number of unfinished legs that you need for your chair(s).  I used THESE LEGS from Home Depot that measure 9″ long.  You’ll also need a pair of vice grips.

Unfinished furniture replacement leg || Worthing CourtPin

Step 2: If you’re like me and need the bolt to be longer in order for the new leg to grip the hole in the chair where the current legs are located, carefully grip the hanger bolt with the vice grips and remove it from the leg.  You may need to wrap the bolt with a rag or something to avoid messing up the threads of the screw.  I actually wrapped a jar lid gripper around mine.

Use vice grips to carefully remove the hanger bolt from a furniture replacement leg || Worthing CourtPin

Step 3: Spray paint or stain the legs to the color that you desire.  Mine are painted with satin finish black spray paint.  Here you can see the removed hanger bolt.  The end with the wide-apart threads is what goes down into the leg.  The end with the threads closer together is what screws into the chair.

Hanger bolt removed from furniture replacement leg || Worthing CourtPin

Step 4: Carefully, use the vice grips to replace the hanger bolt into the leg.  Remember to avoid messing up the threads!  Only screw the bolt in as far as the wide-apart threads.  You can compare this photo to the first one to see how much longer the hanger bolt is now.  If you purchase replacement legs that already have a long enough hanger bolt, this step won’t be necessary.

Painted furniture replacement leg || Worthing CourtPin

Step 5:  Unscrew the original legs from your chair and replace them with the new, longer ones.  Done!  The height of the chair seats now measures 19.5″ from the floor.

A Quick Fix For Inexpensive Upholstered Chairs || Worthing CourtPin

This is just a minor detail in the grand scheme of things, but I think that our office chairs look much better at the taller height.  Plus, they’re more comfortable for us too.

Replace the legs on a too-low chair with longer furniture replacement legs || Worthing CourtPin

 

A Quick Fix For Inexpensive Upholstered Chairs || Worthing CourtPin

Catch Up On The Office Makeover!

 

NEW CHAIRS AND GETTING STARTED WITH MY OFFICE MAKEOVER

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THE NEXT STEP IN OUR OFFICE MAKEOVER

Farmhouse Style Office Desk Makeover || Worthing CourtPin

 

MY HIGH STYLE – LOW COST OFFICE STORAGE SOLUTION

High Style - Low Cost Home Office Storage Solution || Worthing CourtPin

 

RUSTIC INDUSTRIAL OFFICE WALL DECOR

Rustic Industrial Wall Decor For The Office || Worthing CourtPin

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26 Comments

  1. I love this idea! So much cheaper than replacing. Thank you.

  2. Very cool!

    Hey, where do you put family photos in your home.? I like having pictures of my grand babies around but never sure how to decorate with them!

    1. Hi Becky. My favorite way to display photos of my family and grands is on a gallery wall, using frames that are all the same color. I don’t have good success with displaying them in free-standing frames. They wind up looking too cluttered to me.

  3. Brilliant Idea!!!! Why do they make them so darn low?

  4. What a great idea. I never thought of replacing the legs. It is sometimes hard to get rid of those chairs that you love.

  5. Awesome idea! I like the new chair legs better than the original legs.

  6. I love this idea and the new look of your chairs. I have passed up a few chairs that I loved simply because I hated the look of the legs. I will definitely use this idea in the future.

  7. Fantastic idea! After hip surgery, my hubby finds sitting in a higher chair is better for him. I plan on doing this with his chair in our living room! Enjoy your day! 😉

  8. Love your chairs! The new legs add so much more character!

  9. Teddee Grace says:

    And for those of us who have short legs, I guess the inverse…purchasing shorter chair legs…could be true as well. My favorite chair is an antique platform rocker, stuffed with horse hair, that sits only about 14 inches from floor on a buggy spring! It fits my like a glove.

  10. What a great idea just to change up the look of the legs too!

  11. Great idea when the legs are visible. I have used pieces of a 2 x4 on our old sofa, I was making a new slipcover and wanted the sofa taller (it is over 40 years old), the 2×4 pieces are a cheap fix.

  12. Well just think about this as well – I’ve had a really hard time finding chairs with the height I need at a price I can afford! This would add height to the chair as well! I may have found my solution for the chairs that I like but have a too low back height! Not to mention that these legs make those chairs look way more expensive. Well done!

  13. I really like the new “legs” for your chairs that you picked out. They do make a nice difference.

  14. Are the cushions comfy o those chair s?

    1. Hi Jan. The chairs are comfy, but they’re not they kind that you’d snuggle down into. They have firm seat and back cushions.

  15. This is amazing, I would never in a million years thought of this to raise up a chair or any piece of furniture. Thanks, this one of the best ever and I will do this on a few pieces.

  16. Brenda Radliff says:

    What a brilliant idea!!Thank you very much!

  17. Great idea on the chair legs!