Caned Rocker Repair

 

Rocker After

Rocker Before

This unique rocking chair came from Nicaragua. My customer had been in the air force and brought it back with him on a plane that he flew over to the U.S. after the war. That story was as intriguing as the chair. What made this chair unique was the carvings. The caning on the back and the seat was broken and needed replacing. Other than that, the chair needed nothing.

I always begin my caning process by removing the old caning first, decide on the size for the new caning before I weave it. This one was the first time I came across plastic caning instead of the natural reed cane that use mostly used when caning chairs. This proved to be much more difficult to remove because the snippers I use to remove caning didn’t snip the plastic easily. Usually the snippers work very well, quickly cutting the old caning off so I can remove it completely. I prefer using the snips to a utility knife because you have more control over the cane removal than using a knife. If the knife slips, you can damage the wood as well as cut yourself.

Once the old seat caning was removed, I had another challenge which I had only done one other time. The back of this chair had “hidden” tie-offs, covered with a 1/4” wood channel that hid the woven cane by covering it with four wooden pieces that curved around the back of the finished cane. This means that in order to remove the caning, it was necessary to remove the 1/4” wood channel first, which required steaming through the front openings and gently pushing them through with a punch tool. 

The spline removal process involved shooting steam into several holes then tapping them with the punch tool to loosen the glue, thus pushing the wood out enough to remove it. This process took longer than it did to remove the seat caning. It’s an added step to the caning process and very labor intensive. The last time I did this was with a set of four chairs which took two months to complete. Those were curved chairs so they were definitely harder to do work on than normal caned chairs.

After the back caning was completely removed along with the wood splines, I decided to cane the seat first, which turned out great. The much harder process of doing the back involved repositioning the chair many times during the weaving process because it was so large and hard to access because the back was so long. This was a very large chair, thus making it harder to work on the the average sized chair. And, rocking chairs in general are harder to work on than a straight chair because they move. 

After the chair was complete, I was relieved and very glad to have gotten it put back together again, which is also quite a process because I had to reduce the thickness of the original back spline so that it fits into the pre-cut groove which covers the tied-in caning on the back of the chair. 

1970’s Ottoman Overhaul

Ottoman Before New Fabric

Ottoman with new fabric

In the 1970’s, this plaid fabric was quite popular on furniture. Although still functional and in good condition, it was dated. In December, 2021, I made couch cushions for this same customer using the original fabric to create new cushions for a couch. 

They also had a chair and ottoman which needed new fabric to match the rest of the furniture. They chose a nice gray tweed, which looked great with the oversized, hand carved wood. 

The cushion itself was in good shape and didn’t need replacement as the couch cushions did. This cushion basically sat inside the sides of the ottoman, but was still screwed into the angled brackets in the corners for a safe and secure fit. The new top needed little sewing, just enough to fit the corners, which involved a 90 degree cut and sewn sides to create a box. Then the rest was overlapped and attached to the board on the underside of the cushion and stapled to it. No zipper required! Zippered cushions are a lot more work as you need to include boxing on the sides as well as at the zipper placket, which is always larger than the rest of the boxing. 

I love the simplicity of this nice ottoman as well as its sturdy frame. Fabric upgrading is a relatively inexpensive way to make an old piece of furniture look new again.

 

Vintage 1961 Lane Guitar Pick Table

 

Guitar Pick Table Before Stripping

Guitar Pick Table After Stripping

This is a vintage, 1961 Lane Guitar Pick table, well known for its unique shape which resembles a guitar pick (or Ouija board planchette) depending on how you look at it. My customer had found it on the side of the road. 

Someone had decided it was a good idea to spray paint it black. Perhaps it had belonged to someone’s grandmother and when they acquired it, they wanted a “modern” look, not realizing that it was already a mid-century classic without the need for paint. Luckily someone rescued it from the garbage truck and saw the beauty of this table. 

Whomever had dumped this beauty, clearly did not know what they had thrown own or its value. After we had researched this table, we found they were selling on eBay for between $1600-$1700. 

Like Lane cedar chests, you can tell the age of the piece by looking at the serial number (usually found on the bottom) and backward, it tells you the date the furniture was made. This table’s serial number was 610250, which translates to May 20, 1961. This little tidbit of information is fun to know when browsing estate sales or resale shops while looking for or at Lane furniture.

The unique two-tone, notched top characteristic was still visible, despite the paint. Luckily its tell-tale markings could still be seen beneath the thin layer of black spray paint. This table needed plenty of stripping and sanding to reveal the beautiful wood covered by the paint. Once that was removed, it revealed the beauty hidden for so many years. The two-tone wood was a perfect complement to the original cut and style of this table, making it a masterpiece for many years to come.

Grandmother’s Antique Chair Gets New Upholstery

 

Antique Chair Before

Antique Chair After

This was an antique chair had a lovely harp design on the back also had a heart-warming history. This chair was my customer’s husband’s grandmother’s chair and was given to the couple as a wedding present. Although grandma passed away twenty-seven years ago, the chair had been kept by family members and had been well cared for. The chair had come to us refinished, but needed new fabric, as well as spring tightening. 

The previous upholsterer used inadequate material on the springs as you could see them right through the seat fabric. When I sat on the the chair, I felt as though I would fall right through, that’s how bad it was. Everything was so thin, the springs popped right through, so I got to work and stripped it all off. Once I removed the old fabric, was what revealed was; the springs had been covered with a thin layer of shabby white fabric a rusty ring outlining each spring beneath. Next was a thin layer of raw cotton and a super thin layer of foam. That was it! The common denominator was “thin.” 

After I removed all the fabric, thin foam and the rest, I removed the springs. There were only four strips of webbing beneath the springs, which was inadequate. I replaced them with six strips of webbing, which I criss-crossed, making the webbing tight which lends proper support for the springs and a much better feel for the chair’s seat. 

The springs were pretty rusty and greasy, so I used my grinder’s brass wheel and cleaned and polished each spring, removing the grime and rust, revealing the nice metal beneath. It made them easier to work with and of course, much nicer looking. Evening though nobody will see these newly cleaned springs, I knew they were clean and that made me happy. Having the right tools for this type of work is essential! This spring cleaning step was not necessary, but a good idea to clean the interior parts of the chair. Plus, it gives me a feeling of doing it right.

Once the springs were cleaned, I hand sewed each one into place with strong waxed upholstery thread. Each spring was marked with a black sharpie, 2 inches away from the chair’s inner frame. This is a very important step, keeping the springs in line with each other for equal support. Once this is complete, the springs receive an eight-way tie. You start with the horizontal rows and tie each spring together, secured to the chair’s frame with staples (or nails) depending on the condition of the wood. If the wood is damaged from too many nails from previous reupholstering, staples are preferable. They are my personal favorite as I feel they are much faster and easier to use. Repeat the process with vertical ties, again securing each row, looping the string around each spring to keep them tight and the same height. Once the horizontal and verticals are secured, you repeat the process, now from corner to corner, in the shape of an “X” until you have eight strings overlapping one another. I added a couple more rows on the edges of the outer springs for extra strength. 

The next step is securing all the freshly tied springs with a layer of burlap, secured with staples to the edge of the chair’s frame. After the burlap, I added a 1” layer of high density foam, a thick layer of raw cotton batting, a thick layer of dacron and a layer of batting. I finished this with a layer of muslin to keep it all in place before I finished it with the fabric. After sitting on the newly finished seat, I no longer felt the springs, a good indication of a properly layered seat.

This chair was finished with decorative trim, or gimp, which was used to cover the staples that secured the fabric to the top of the chair. The back of the chair also needed to be reupholstered. The previous upholsterer used no webbing for the back, so I added a couple of strips for extra support and strength. Then I added a thin layer of closed cell foam and batting, which was appropriate for the back of the chair (unlike the seat, the needs a lot more layers of multiple materials so you don’t feel the springs.) Again, I used gimp trim to cover the staples which finished it off nicely. The gimp complemented the fabric, adding a decorative, finished look to the chair.

Check out the photos below to see the before and after springs and you can see the way an 8-way tie is properly done with chairs that have springs.

Chair Before Proper
Spring Tying and Less Webbing

Chair After Proper Spring
Tying and Six Strips of Webbing

1940’s Chair New Upholstery

 

1940s Chair Before

1940s Chair After

This was a super challenging reupholstery project. This chair was purchased by my customer’s grandmother in the 1940s. The story was that her grandmother had saved her money so she could purchase this heart-shaped back chair. I’m sure at the time she bought it, it was in much better condition than when I received it. Made of green satin, the chair was made with tufting, buttons and formed to accentuate the heart shape, which is part of the chair’s wood structure. 

Because the original fabric was much thinner than the upgraded fabric, it had a skirting along the bottom edge which surrounded the chair. Popular for the time, this skirting was a definitive feminine design for a small chair such as this which was commonly found in a woman’s dressing room. The chair’s petite size is an attractive feature because it was small enough to put into a corner of a bedroom or dressing room. The heart-shaped top was surrounded by shirred fabric to match the arms. Piping in an off-white was the accent color for the green. However, the chair had seen better days and had spent many years neglected,  suffering the elements and its share of rodent damage as well as other crawly things that made the interior their home. To say the least, it needed a major overhaul.

Back of chair after

Back of chair before

My customer had her heart set on a nautical theme and chose a lovely fabric with light blue, gray, white and navy with various nautical elements including sea shells, lighthouse, seagulls and a compass. The colors were muted but worked well with the overall design and theme of the fabric. 

I spent four evenings removing the old fabric, including the old thread and taking the sections apart, measuring and marking them, so that I could replicate them in the new design. However ambitious this was, it didn’t turn out that way. As I reconstructed the new underlayment of the chair, i.e. webbing, burlap, foam, rolled raw cotton batting, etc. the dictation that I take it into a different direction. I had always planned on adding the skirting, but the more I worked on the fabric, the less I wanted the skirting. It just didn’t look right with the new design of the chair.

Because the chair had zig-zag springs, it required a strong foundation so that you wouldn't feel the springs when you sat on the chair. And because the upholstery fabric was considerably thicker than the original satin, creating the “loose cushion” style was not possible. I was able to maintain integrity of the chair’s original “heart” design in the back by following the form of of the wood and being conscientious about keeping that shape while adding the various layers of cotton batting and foam. 

The most difficult part of the top heart shaped area was adding the fabric covered buttons. Because I made the back as a single, attached unit, the buttons has to be pulled through all those layers and stitched individually into place before the back fabric could be applied. This proved to be quite a task which involved using various tools of the trade. (I have learned to keep bandaids on hand while doing this type of work!)

Because of the shaping of the new fabric, I could only add piping to the very back of the chair, but I used two rows for character and keeping the back area straight, so I could easily apply the back fabric by using tack strip. Tack strip (or curve ease) attaches the back fabric in a way that you can’t see any fasteners. It’s got sharp “teeth” that grab the fabric’s edge, then gets hammered down to close the fabric on itself. 

Because the chair’s arms were built with fairly thin wood strips, it was a bit tricky attaching the batting layers and eventually the fabric because it was difficult to find where the wood was. This was quite time-consuming, but turned out great. Plus with all the padding, the chair is much more comfortable than it was before since the seating is much thicker than it was originally made. I finished the chair by making arm covers (to protect from your skin’s natural oil) and made a matching pillow with ruffled edges. I refinished the chair’s legs, because I opted to omit the original skirting, which simply didn’t look good with the updated fabric and style of the chair. The legs weren’t in bad shape, but they needed a touch-up so this completed the chair. Now it’s ready to face another 70 years as a cute little chair that graces a woman’s dressing room.

Antique Cabinet/Secretary Revival

Cabinet After

Cabinet Before

This was an antique glass cabinet/secretary which had damage on the bottom curved section due to a dog chewing on it. Replacing wood from pet damage can be difficult since it involves putting something there that is missing. This area was uniquely difficult because of its location, right in the front and to make matters  more complicated, on a curve parallel to the curved glass door. 

There was also a piece of wood missing along the top in the back which Jim replaced with a matching piece of oak that looked like it had belonged there and was a great addition.

The rest of the piece was in pretty good condition but needed full stripping and refinishing. This piece had some lovely original features including detailed wood carving on the drop-down desk area right below the leaded glass panel which was a separate place to store knick-knacks. Three storage drawers were right below the desk area, a nice place to keep stationary and other desk items. 

Interior of  Desk Area

Jim had to remove the door, drawers, leaded glass panel and drop-down area to be able to access the interior and properly strip the interior. The shelves weren’t included in the “before” photo, but they were later added  in the “after” photo. Jim had to recreate the missing wood section where the dog chew damage was, no easy task, but somehow he created another piece of oak and formed it to follow the curve of the original radius so that it looked natural as if it had been there all along. 

Working with antiques are never cut and dry as each piece is unique and requires a lot of thought, time and improvisation. We always try to maintain the original integrity of the antique and the end result shows the time and dedication we put into every piece. This one is a great example of the process of refinishing as well as innovation mixed in with creativity and a great deal of time commitment. 

Rocking Chair Gets New Cushion

Chair w/new cushion

 

Chair w/old cushion

My only “fix” for this rocking chair was to overhaul the seat. The seat was original with springs that were attached to a very old frame which was coming apart. The springs were rusty, but still in good condition. After I removed the nasty fabric (you could see the springs popping through), there were two more layers of fabrics beneath it. 

The original fabric was a well-worn floral fabric and another layer of flowers was between the green outer fabric and the last one. All that fabric didn’t make the chair any more comfortable because the springs were literally visible through all layers. There was a scrap of burlap in there somewhere and the stuffing/batting was stuck inside the springs and weren’t really performing anymore. 

This seat needed a LOT of old fabric removal before anything could be done. At first I wasn’t sure how I’d secure those springs because the framework was made out of metal, with wood only on the bottom. 

After doing the eight-way tie on the springs, I realized that by securing the springs’ sides and centers to the wood frame would not only keep them from moving, it would also make the framework somewhat level. I didn’t do that in the photo shown, so you can see how the framework dips in the center. Once I had secured the entire perimeter, the springs were level. It worked great!

After the springs were taken care of, they were completely covered with burlap and secured to the bottom all around with staples. (I love my pneumatic stapler!) The next step was adding foam to the sides so that the foam pushed against the springs, thus protecting the sides from puncture and adding more "bounce.” 

Next, I added two layers of batting, one front to back and the second one left to right. I had left the sides open on the top layer so I can push the stuffing into it, bringing the cushion to a nice crown. Then I added two layers of muslin, with a very high thread count so that it’s super durable and makes a great base for the final layer, the outer fabric, which was a nice thin-striped ticking in a white with light tan, a great choice for this chair. The last step is painting it white, but my customer will take care of that. Some people like the “distressed” look, but for this chair we agreed that painting it white would look great with that crisp new fabric. I love the way this chair cushion turned out.

Mid-Century Chair Stripped / New Needlepoint Seat

Mid-Century Chair
w/Needlepoint After

 

Mid-century chair
before refinishing

It’s amazing how styles from the past tend to pop up fifty or sixty years later, as if the idea is brand new. This mid-century modern chair is classical 1960’s style, wide, low back and clean lines which were commonly seen in living rooms across America which mimicked the Scandinavian style. I loved the lines of this chair. 

This chair was extremely well made, quite strong and needed no tightening or repairs. The back had a few missing veneer pieces, which were easily filled in and stained so that it was hardly visible. 

I made the choice to completely strip this chair instead of touch-up because I felt that this is what it needed. In order to be true to the piece, you must determine what’s the best course of action to make it look the best it can. In this case, I stripped off the old finish, luckily wasn’t too difficult to remove as old stain mostly is. It came off easily and once that was done, I thoroughly sanded it, removing the excess stain and stripped. I cleaned it with lacquer thinner and sanded it smooth. 

I was very happy with the way the chair turned out. The light cherry stain was definitely the perfect color to offset the dark color of the needlepoint. A nice foam padding finished off the seat so that the chair is as comfortable as it is pretty.

I chose cherry stain to keep the color light which I felt complimented the lovely needlepoint seat that my customer made just for this seat. This was the third seat such as this that I had made for this same customer. The other two were benches. She is making a needlepoint seat for each of her grandchildren. She makes the needlepoint then finds the chair or bench which is the right size for the needlepoint. So far she’s been pretty lucky! 

To see one the previous needlepoint benches I made for this customer, check out the link below. Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo of the other one, but it had a blue background with a black bench.

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5936537173467203420/24816612440806533 

1940’s Night Stand Restoration/Revival

Night Stand After

 

Night Stand Before

Some furniture has a lot more wear than others, therefore those most used could be in dire need of restoration and refinishing. Such is the case with this 1940’s night stand. It was made of solid mahogany, no veneer, which is a sign of a well-made piece of furniture. 

Most of the furniture we refinish has veneer. Sometimes it’s in great condition, other times it can be chipped a little bit or in major need of replacement. Not having veneer made this night stand much better to work on. It had definitely seen lots of use, especially the top, which was worn and scratched. 

It looked like someone tried to remove the finish on the left side of the top at some point in time, but never followed through with the rest of it. Not uncommon for someone to begin the stripping process and stop before getting too far into it once they realize that it’s a lot more difficult than they had originally planned. Using the right stripper is only part of the refinishing process. We always say, “if it doesn’t burn your skin, it’s not strong enough.” That sounds crazy, but it’s true. A good stripper is an essential part of furniture refinishing and restoration as it’s the first step before anything else can be done. 

Night Stand Drawer After

Night Stand Drawer Before

This night stand took me four days to strip from start to finish. Although the legs were Queen Anne style instead of spindles, they were still challenging to strip because they are curved. 

The tools we use to strip are straight, such as a putty knife and carving tools, so stripping a curved part of furniture takes a longer time than a straight section. And of course all the old finish must be removed or it’s impossible to sand and stain it. It’s all part of the process. The better the prep, the better the results. 

For this little gem, I custom-mixed red mahogany stain with a bit of English chestnut to give it a rich, natural color that was true to the original color. One of the fun things of refinishing/staining, is mixing two or three stains to create a completely new, unique color. Using your creative license is encouraged when working with stain colors. I chose a semi-gloss polyurethane to protect the stain. The drawer pull was pretty dull, so it got polished and painted with gold spray paint. The original pull was not brass, just metal, so painting it gold was a better look for the drawer. For a bit of whimsy, I painted the drawer’s interior and put a piece of glitter drawer liner on the bottom for a bit of “bling.” I was happy with the results as the refinished night stand was once again restored to its former glory.

His and Hers Twin Rocking Chairs

 

Rockers Before Restoration

Rockers After Restoration

Twin chairs! This was definitely a first for us, having two identical rocking chairs to refinish at the same time. The most surprising feature of these chairs was the size. Each chair weighed in at 60-70 lbs., possibly more. This required both of us to unload them from the customer’s van and bring them into our work space. 

Having chairs such as these as heavy as they were, made working on them quite challenging. They were not only heavy, they were huge! We have a large rocking chair in our living room with a similar style, but ours isn’t nearly as heavy as these were, nor is it as tall as these were.

The keyhole cutout design in the back center of each chair was a unique feature that gave them personality, adding a nice detail. The front of the chairs’ seat had a very rounded and thickness that I could hardly wrap my hand around. Yes, definitely massive. One of the chairs had suffered dog chew damage on the lower right leg spindle. The chairs had been repaired by someone else for the damage prior to us doing the refinishing. 

The chairs were both fairly worn and really cried out to be stripped, sanded and stained. This process was very time-consuming due to the sheer size of these mammoths and the detail, mainly the spindles, which if you’ve read other articles in our blog you know that they require a great deal of time and attention to remove all that old finish. We use work carving tools which allow us to get into the nitty-gritty of the spindles’ curves and tight spot. You’d be surprised at how much stain there is on any item of furniture even though it may look worn. There’s still a lot to remove. And that takes time. There’s simply no getting around that part of this work.

When the chairs were all stripped and sanded, Jim used English Chestnut stain, followed by three coats of polyurethane which will protect them for years to come. Refinishing really shows off the gorgeous woodgrain that was unseen prior to refinishing. That’s the beauty of a full refinish. You can see the woodgrain that is normally not as visible when furniture comes from the factory. Their process is different from hand finishing, therefore has a different look. 

If you've ever wondered if that special piece of furniture you’ve held onto for many years because you don’t know if it’s worth restoring, take a look at the wood. More times than not, once it is stripped, it is better than new because the hand stripping process restores it to its original beauty that was likely not seen when done on the assembly line. The value is already there so refinishing is always worth it. Unless a piece really is made cheaply and has no sentimental value, having it restored/refinished is a great way to preserve a piece of your family’s history or create a new family heirloom for future generations.

Corner Chair Painted Black, New Seat Fabric

 

Chair Before

Chair After

This little chair is called a “corner chair,” because it can go perfectly into a  corner and you can sit on it facing either way. It’s a perfect place to sit and put your shoes on (or off) or just for additional seating. This little chair was an antique, likely made in the 1920’s or 1930’s. 

It was in great shape, but my customer wanted an updated look so she opted for satin black paint. After sanding, priming and painting, it was ready for a new upholstered seat.

The seat was covered with suede, which had seen better times, so she chose a gray tweed fabric which worked well with the black paint. The seat had been reinforced with very old, likely original metal strips on the underside and had been nailed with 2” nails! They were way to long for the 1/2 “ wood, so I had to turn the entire seat upside down and pry up the nails before removing them. 

Once that was done, I replaced them with seat webbing, weaving three rows in each direction for extra strength and support. Foam and batting added, then the new fabric was stapled in place. A black cambric finished off the underside of the chair. The black was satin, and looked fabulous with the fabric, a perfect blend of color and texture. 

Ice Cream Parlor Chair Painted and Re-Caned

Chair After

 

Chair Before

These chairs were once popular in ice cream parlors across the United States. The familiar shape is reminiscent of generations before ours sitting in an ice cream parlor, enjoying a cone of their favorite flavor. 

This chair was quite old, an antique, that had been painted a few times. It was likely part of a set but was a lone chair that needed new paint and a newly caned seat. Many caned seats either got painted with the chair, or stained, depending on the  manufacturer or whoever refinished it prior. My choice is to leave the caning natural and allow it to age which gives it a unique patina that only time can create.

Caning a round chair is a completely different process from caning a square or rectangle chair. This is because you have to go through the same hole many times and skip holes with the weaving process because of the round shape. It’s a bit tricky, but follows the same principles of basic caning in every other way. The white paint was a great choice for this little chair which matches the little table perfectly. It will eventually be used as a place for homework or other projects for a little one.

Chair with table, finished