I found myself recently at a crossroad. Seven years ago, we upgraded from a free gifted table and chair dining set to a faux marble tile table with faux leather chairs. For the price, we were thrilled to get a sturdy table with six chairs for under $400 on sale. Our other set had done well for us until one of the chair backs broke and it would have cost us more to replace the seating then to get a new set.

This table has weathered a lot. It gets painted on, colored on, stood on (oh yes, just wait until your toddler sees you aren’t looking)… the chairs have been stood on, jumped on (and off of), and well, you know I have two boys, right? It is never ending. We really don’t want to buy anything now while our kids are young, and we are working diligently to pay off credit debt so it isn’t a need to get something new.

Well, the faux leather has started to crack and pull, and my middle guy discovered he could stick his finger in one tiny hole and pull out “marshmallows”. At first all I had on hand was packing tape, so I used that to keep the fingers out, but it looked awful and pulled up on the edges.

I tried some duck tape instead this time, which I layered over the cracks. It covered nicely. I found these simple and inexpensive chair covers that I put on each chair after they were “repaired”, and to my amazement, the table looks like new. I think this dining set refresh just bought us 3 more years with this table! All it cost me was 35 dollars.

The fabric is stretchy and it pulls tight enough that it doesn’t slide up the sides or back. So far it has been a week of kids standing on and sitting on them, and they haven’t budged. And in all honesty, if they would tear or stain in a year or two, I will just order another set.

Share some of your simple projects to give your furniture new life! We love to see what you are working on.