How to Decorate Furniture With Decorative Nails

June 29, 2021

Finishing off your latest upholstery piece but looking for something to give it that wow factor? Why not try using decorative upholstery nails, they’re great for turning any piece of furniture into the talk of any room. As long as the furniture item has a wood frame to anchor the nails, you can embellish almost any upholstery piece, from chairs and cabinets to bookcases and ottomans. You can even develop a simple straight row or complex curving design that best suits your project piece.

Upholstery nails are available in a wide range of colours and styles, making it easy to match the design to the room the piece will end up in, whether it be rustic or contemporary.

How to Apply Decorative Nails?

  1. Choose the Upholstery Nails

There are so many different colours and styles to choose from when looking at using decorative upholstery nails, including powder coated, enameled, patterned, polished and brass. So, make sure you find the right nails to go with your project by browsing the range available at J A Milton. Also, make sure you have all the tools you need to apply these nails – a hammer and nail spacer tool.

2. Space the Upholstery Nails

Spacing is a highly important part of finishing with upholstery nails and the space needed between nails will vary depending on the project. To get a feel for the kind of spacing you would like between the nails try practicing with a piece of paper or felt, pushing the upholstery nails through in a row until you get the look you want. 

Once you have decided on your spacing make sure to make a mark on the tape measure you are using to ensure you get consistent spacing. Then make the same mark on the fabric of the furniture and you are ready to start applying your decorative nails.

3. Applying your Upholstery Nails

A handy tool for getting the spacing between decorative nails just right is a nail spacer tool. These not only hold the nails at the correct spacing but hold them in place when using the hammer to tap them into place. The spacing tool we have here at J A Milton holds up to five nails at a time and has the ability to hold a single nail so enables you to place each nail individually and accurately. 

Simply knock the nails almost home (not too tight onto the nailer tool), then place your hand on top of the nails and gently remove the tool. Make sure all the nails are lining up as you wanted them to and finish knocking the nails in.

Tip: If you’re not using a spacer tool, use needle-nose pliers to hold your upholstery nails in place while you give a couple of gentle blows with your hammer.

Decorating Ideas with Upholstery Nails

There are so many ways you can use upholstery nails to decorate a furniture piece. Here are some:

  • Highlight the edge of a table, chair seat, shelf or bookcase with a row of decorative nails.
  • Spell out a word or your initials on the front of a plain dresser or cabinet.
  • Use upholstery nails to draw a silhouette on a large piece of furniture.
  • Tuft an upholstered headboard, ottoman or bench with decorative nails spread out in a diamond pattern.
  • Create a swirling design on a cabinet front or dresser drawers.

We are sure that by using upholstery nails to add the finishing flare to your upholstery project you will wow anyone who sees it.

Get everything you need to add decorative nails to your furniture through the J A Milton website today!