Vintage Chair Upholstery

Chair Before

This chair had gotten damaged by a man who fell onto it. Luckily the chair broke

Chair After

 his fall which resulted in a few bruises, but saved him from hitting his head or breaking his hip, which would have been much worse. The customer was the nephew of the man who fell and had wanted to get the chair repaired and reupholstered. He originally had wanted the same color, but ended up choosing a fabric I had in stock, a white brocade, which was the period-correct material for this era of chair.

Because he had planned on doing the refinishing himself, I removed the old fabric and cotton padding then let him know it was ready for him. He picked it up and took it home to refinish and repair the broken arm. 

Two weeks later, he brought the chair back to me and I began with replacing the old webbing, which was worn and no longer supported the seat properly. After that, I added the new raw cotton seat and back padding and finished it with muslin before I could add the new fabric. What a difference the new material made for this damaged chair. Once again, this chair would be his uncle's favorite spot to sit and watch his t.v. shows.

Black Vinyl Chair Upgrade

Chair After

Chair Before

This was the chair I worked on while Jim was tackling the large desk in the previous posting. It was more challenging than I had anticipated, but that isn't uncommon in the restoration business. The vinyl was not torn at all, but was pretty worn out in need of replacement. There were over 300 tacks surrounding the bottom edge, front, sides and back as well as the top back section of the chair. 

It's hard to see in the "before' photo to the left, but the tacks line the entire bottom of the chair. As a rule, I dislike working with tacks because they inevitably bend and never line up as you'd want them to. But the customer had wanted tacks, so tacks he got. Those tacks were the first thing to remove so I could then remove the upholstery nails and tackle the vinyl. This took the better part of an afternoon. 

Once the material was gone, the springs were revealed and not in the best condition. Well, the springs themselves were great, but the original ties had come apart and some of the springs weren't supporting the seat properly. I put that on  hold in the back of my mind while I worked on stripping the old finish from the wood. The stripping took me three days (I don't work as quickly as Jim does!) After that was sone, I let him work his magic and stain the chair then apply the polyurethane to protect it. In the interim I had decided that I would remove the old ties on the springs and re-tie them with the 8-way tie method. I couldn't leave it the way it was knowing how bad it would be if someone sat on it. 

New ties in place and springs supporting the seat properly, I reused the horsehair which was perfectly fine. Next, I secure the springs with burlap, then added a thick layer of cotton batting and finished it off with a top layer of muslin. Though not necessary, muslin is a nice finishing touch before adding the material. The vinyl seat was very difficult, but I managed to get it in place. Another afternoon gone. The next day I tackled the backrest. Another challenge, but once it was in place I began the tedious process of nailing in the 300 tacks, choosing a shiny brass finish to match the hardware on the desk. The tacks were now much more visible than before the reupholstery. I was so glad to have finished this chair as it was one of the more difficult projects I had done lately.

Springs Before

Springs After