Dining chairs and stools
A seat, four legs, a back. You will build the same chair two or four times, so the first one is practice.
Not what you bought? Try Four-leg desk or table · Patio and outdoor furniture · High chair and booster seat
What you need
In the box already: Allen key · Hex bolts and washers · Floor glides or felt pads · Leg brackets
Before you open anything
- Open only one chair's hardware bag at a time. Mixing four sets of look-alike bolts is a mess you do not need.
- Build the first chair slowly and the rest will take five minutes each.
- Work on a towel. Chair legs are usually the most visible finish in the box.
Please don't skip these
- A chair bolt that is only finger-tight will fail with someone sitting on it. Final tightening is not optional.
- Do not stand on a chair you just built until you have tightened everything and sat on it first.
The whole thing, step by step
9 steps-
Turn the seat upside down on a towel
Put the seat upside down on a folded towel. Everything bolts to the underside, and this way gravity helps instead of fighting you.
- Seat upside down, padded surface
- Threaded inserts or bracket holes facing up
- All four legs within reach
-
Sort front legs from back legs
On most chairs the back legs are longer, because they continue upward to become the back. Match them to the manual before bolting anything.
- Longer pair, or the pair with extra holes, goes at the back
- Check for L and R markings on the back legs
- Lay them out in position first
Watch out. Front legs in the back sockets is the single most common chair mistake, and it is invisible until the chair is finished and leans. -
Start every bolt before tightening any
Thread all the leg bolts in with their washers, just a few turns each. Loose everywhere. Nothing tight yet.
- Washer between bolt and wood or metal, always
- Thread by hand first to feel the threads catch
- All bolts started before any are tightened
Watch out. If a bolt will not start by hand, back it out. Forcing it with the Allen key strips the insert and that leg is then permanently loose. -
Fit the back or backrest
The back either bolts onto the rear legs or drops into brackets. Get all its bolts started loosely too, then check it is centered and square.
- Line the back up with both rear legs
- All bolts started loosely
- Sight along it to check it is not twisted
Tip. Look at the chair from the front. A back that leans to one side now will lean forever once tightened. -
Stand it up, then tighten diagonally
Set the chair upright on a flat floor, press down on the seat to settle everything, then tighten in a diagonal pattern. Two laps.
- Chair on a flat floor, press the seat down firmly
- Front-left, back-right, front-right, back-left
- Second full lap
Tip. Pressing the seat down while you tighten is what makes the difference between a chair that stays tight for years and one that is wobbly in a month. -
Kill the rock with the glides
Press each corner of the seat. If it rocks, the plastic glides or felt pads let you fix it — add a second pad on the short leg.
- Press each corner to find the short leg
- Tap plastic glides fully in
- Double up a felt pad under the short leg if needed
Tip. Felt pads on every leg are worth doing anyway. They protect the floor and they stop the dragging noise that drives everyone mad. -
Sit in it and bounce
Sit down and shift your weight around. Any creak or movement means one more pass with the Allen key.
- Sit, lean back, shift side to side
- Listen for creaks
- Re-tighten anything that moved
Watch out. Do this before anyone else sits in it. A chair is one of the few pieces of furniture that fails with someone on it. -
Build the rest from memory
Now you know the chair. The second one takes five minutes. Open one hardware bag at a time and repeat exactly the same order.
- One hardware bag per chair
- Same order every time
- Same tightening pattern
Tip. Put the finished chairs in the next room as you go. It keeps your workspace clear and stops you mixing up parts. -
Re-tighten everything in two weeks
Set a reminder. Wood and upholstery compress slightly in the first weeks of use. One tightening pass then and the chairs will stay solid for years.
- Phone reminder for two weeks out
- One lap with the Allen key on every chair
- Keep the Allen key taped under one seat
Tip. Taping the Allen key under a seat is the single best piece of furniture advice there is. You will always know where it is.
If something has gone wrong
The chair wobbles and will not stop
Loosen everything, stand the chair on a flat floor, press hard on the seat, and retighten in a diagonal pattern. Nine times out of ten it was tightened while upside down and the joints settled crooked.
One leg is shorter than the others
Usually it is not — the chair is just assembled slightly out of square. Try the retightening trick first. If it genuinely is short, double up a felt pad.
A bolt spins and will not tighten
The threaded insert in the wood has pulled loose. Pull it out, add a drop of two-part epoxy around it, push it back and let it cure overnight before bolting.
The back leans to one side
Loosen the back bolts, hold it straight while looking from the front, and retighten evenly, alternating sides.
The chair creaks when I sit
A joint is slightly loose. Creaking is wood or metal moving against wood. Find it by sitting and shifting while a helper listens, then tighten that bolt.
Words you will see in the manual
- handed
- Means a part exists as a mirror pair — a left one and a right one. Chair legs, drawer slides and sofa arms are commonly handed.
- washer
- A flat metal ring that goes under a bolt head. It spreads the load so the bolt does not pull through the material. Never leave one out.
- glide
- The plastic cap on a furniture leg. On outdoor furniture it also keeps water out of the hollow leg, which stops it splitting in winter.
- threaded insert
- A metal sleeve set into wood that a bolt screws into. If one pulls loose, epoxy it back in and let it cure before bolting.