Dining Room Chairs Upgrade

Dining Chair
After

Dining Chair
Before

This is one of four dining room chairs which needed an upgrade with new upholstery. The old fabric was still in remarkably good condition, however my customer had wanted to match curtains with the chairs so she chose a silvery-gray fabric which gave the chairs a classy and elegant look.

Unlike most of the other chairs I have worked on, these had a unique approach in how the fabric was attached to the cushion. After inspecting the bottom, I realized there were no screws holding in the seats. Everything was done from bottom up. Beneath the fabric was the Dacron; beneath the Dacron was the foam and underneath everything was the webbing. 

The material had been attached by staples at the base of the seat's top, covered up with double welt cording. In most dining room chairs the seat is removed by unscrewing it from the base, so each seat can be worked on independently of the chair. The advantage is that you have access to the entire seat and can work on a tabletop. For this particular chair, that was not the case. Everything had to be removed and reassembled right on the chair. This leaves little to no room for error (not that that ever happens...lol). Once I established how these seats were put together, I proceeded to yank off the old welt cording, then removed staples, lots and lots of staples at the base of the seat, surrounding the entire chair.

Because these chairs needed new cushions, I removed the old Dacron and cushions and replaced them with new high density foam. I also reinforced the old webbing by adding some new webbing strips to give the bottom extra firmness and support. The old webbing was likely original, narrow and a little sloppy. I used three inch jute webbing, which provides a stronger, more stable seat. For the cushions, I used the old cushions for size and shape, then cut the new ones and aligned them on the webbing, then secured them with staples on the bottom edge. 

New Dacron covered the foam and then the chairs were ready for new new fabric. Slow is pro, so I took my time and made sure the material covered the chair enough to allow for the staples without covering the lip of the seat. The final step was gluing the double welt cording to the bottom edge which covers the staples while providing an elegant finishing touch to the seats. Two of the chairs required a replacement of the chambray dust cover, so once those were done, my project was complete.

Dining Chair
Before/After

 

Antique Dresser Beautfication

Dresser After

Dresser Before

A lovely piece of furniture that had seen better days, this antique mahogany dresser was a great piece to make beautiful again. The beautification process for this little gem started by removing the old knobs, repairing the drawers which included replacing one of the drawer bottoms and proceed with stripping, sanding and applying new stain. 

We selected red mahogany stain with satin finish for this piece which was appropriate for the vintage and wood style.

The original knobs were made of wood, which were switched out with brushed brass knobs. This really made this little dresser into a lovely finished piece of furniture and a great addition to any household.
 

Dry Seak Freshen Up

Dry Sink After

Dry Sink Before

This little cabinet is commonly referred to as a dry sink. Before they had indoor plumbing, people would keep a large wash basin on the top of such a cabinet with towels and toiletries beneath for a quick freshen up. 

It didn't need an entire refinishing, just a little bit of refresh. This included replacing the top drawer bottom which was damaged and wouldn't close easily. Jim replaced the broken piece with new wood and strengthened it in the process.

Made of sturdy oak, this dry sink was in really great shape. After he cleaned and refreshed it, the natural beauty of the wood came through. Oddly enough, the cabinet door did not have a knob, so we're not sure how a person would have opened it without opening the top drawer and pushing on the door. It didn't even have a hole where a knob would have been. Luckily we had a glass knob in our repertoire of supplies which matched pretty well and looked great once it was installed. 

The customer took the "before" photo, so it looks much darker than the "after" photo due to the lighting. The "after" photo is more representative of how the actual dry sink looked, which was a much lighter shade of oak and looked terrific.

Grandpa's Rocking Chair Makeover

Rocking Chair After

Rocking Chair Before

Well used and worn out, this was once a grandfather's favorite chair. It had been reupholstered a long time ago prior to my getting it, so the material was quite faded, stretched out and dirty. The seat had broken springs, so the chair was literally sinking. Needless to say, the chair was not usable in its condition and needed a lot of TLC as well as new materials, inside and out.

Removing the old fabric is always time-consuming because there are plenty of staples. First I had to remove the upholstery tacks which had been used along with gimp as a trim on the front and back sides and bottom edge. Personally I don't care much for upholstery tacks, because as wood ages it becomes even harder and the tacks inevitably bend so much after you hammer them in, they shift and don't line up where you start. I prefer to use welt cording instead of tacks.

Once I had removed all the fabric, I tackled the seat area and removed the old burlap and worn out seat padding. The springs had come loose and were poking right through the chambray dust cover. Because they had come off the wood, they were quite tangled in the chambray and made the bottom fabric material challenging to remove. Finally, once everything was taken off I could access the springs to reattach them to the framework. Luckily they were in great condition as I like using the original springs when possible.

After the springs were reattached, I covered them with burlap, then laid one inch padding on top of the burlap. This was followed by two layers of dacron and a layer of raw cotton batting, which made for a cushy, crown-soft seat ready for fabric. My customer had selected a taupe/brown plush material with a pattern of alternating nap squares which created an attractive highlighted and low lighted effect. 

With the seat finished, I moved started on the top of the chair. The original design had a welt cord at the neck level with a "pillow" for a headrest, so I recreated that look by sewing two sections of fabric together, adding a welt cord between them to replicate the original. I liked the detail of the welt cord in that area. After I attached the front, I moved on to the back, attaching it at the top with an invisible seam by using cardboard strip and staples, then flipping the material down and attaching it to the bottom of the chair. This made for a streamlined look. To finish off the chair, I used double welt cording for trim on the sides and continued on the back. This chair was unique because it had wheels only in the front. After completion, the chair looked great and will greet many generations to come.

    Before & After