Antique Rocking Chair New Caned Seat

Here's another old beauty of a rocking chair that need the broken caned seat replaced. Like many older chairs with caned seats, they tend to get broken after years of use because the cane gets brittle and if a child happens to put their knee onto it, well, there goes the caning with a hole in the middle. If the caning is slightly bent in the middle, it can be made taut again by placing a damp towel on the seat overnight. This technique softens the cane, thus tightening gradually when it dries and giving it more use, at least for a little while. But when it completely breaks through, the only alternative is removing the old,

Antique Rocking
Chair After

broken cane and replacing it with new cane. This is a “strand” cane chair, which means that it has holes surrounding the chairs seat where the cane strands get woven through. This is a seven-step process that is quite tedious, but if you listen to music or a podcast (like I do), it’s not so bad. It’s actually pretty relaxing once you get into the groove of it and allow your fingers to work their magic. 

For this chair, I used 2.25mm fine caning. This is based on the size caning that was in the chair originally. There are methods to measure the distance between the center to center holes to determine the proper size caning to use, but I prefer just to measure the existing old cane to make sure it will fit since the hole technique isn’t always accurate. The reason is that when many of these very old chair were made, whoever drilled the holes didn’t always measure the exact distance between holes as well as the size of the holes, therefore to use just the holes is not the more accurate way to get the proper new caning installed. 

In my experience, it’s better to use a slightly narrower size than one that is too large as this will be a real problem during the final binding step. If the cane is too big and overfills the holes, it’s nearly impossible to get the final strands through the holes without pushing the cane back out of the holes you’ve worked so hard to get securely in place.

This was to date my very best caning job because everything flowed smoothly and the caning was even and straight. The trickiest part was the the curved arm was attached very closely to the holes on that part of the seat, so the arms had to be lifted up enough so that I could thread the caning through the 6 or 7 holes that were very close to the bottom of the armrest. Some of those holes were drilled at an angle, so that made caning in those areas even more challenging as I tried to find the angle of the hole. However, once that was completed, the rest was easy by comparison. Caning is always done with the first step going front to back, underneath, then pulled through the hole and brought forward again. You repeat this process from the center all the way to the right (or left) side then finish off the other remaining side in the same manner. The next step is horizontal, left to right, starting in the back upper corner of the chair, following the same weaving. 

Third step is going over the first step, keeping the strands to the right of the first vertical strands. This is so that when you weave the fourth step, you go over step 3 and under step 1. This is the actual “weaving” part of caning which will set up the diagonal weaves that go from the upper right to the lower left corners. Finally, you weave from the upper left to the lower right corners, going under vertical and over horizontal one way then the opposite for the other side. 

Binding is what finishes off the top. A slightly wider section of caning is measured around the circumference of the chair. This covers up the holes with sections of caning coming up and going down the same hole, pulling tightly to keep the top edge secure. After this is done, you tap in a 1/2” finishing piece to plug the hole(s) where the caning started. It sounds a lot more complicated then it is, but if you follow the steps, you too can become a caning master. It’s definitely a great skill to have, some call a “dying” art as not many people are doing this anymore. It’s also a unique and creative way to add texture to your home with caned pieces such as speaker covers, cabinets and footstools in addition to chair seats and backs.

Here’s the video of the final step of me caning this rocking chair:

https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5936537173467203420/6863734281706129925

1940's Hutch Makeover

Hutch Before

Hutch After

This 1940's hutch caught by eye at a local antique shop here in Marine City. I fell in love with the great lines and gentle curves of this unique piece of furniture. A plain glass door was functional enough, but I could envision something much more suited to this beauty, so I added a leaded glass panel with bevels and glue chip glass to enhance the hutch adding classic, timeless styling.

With relish, I peeled off hideously sticky contact paper circa 1965 from the interior and painted the shelves with serenity blue chalk paint to give it a modern flair and fresh appeal to today's contemporary styles. I replaced the broken back with a section of bead board, which added vertical lines and created additional texture. It looked great! The exterior was in overall terrific shape, but needed refinishing, no easy task. Section by section, I carefully detailed
and stripped, using my special set of tools to remove many years of old finish which hid the beautiful cherry beneath.

Petite Old Dresser Painted Black

Petite Dresser Before

Petite Dresser After

This little dresser was in really rough shape when we found it at an estate sale on Ursuline Street in St. Clair Shores two weekends ago, and we almost overlooked it. After we gave it a second glance, we knew we found a treasure. Seldom deterred by "ugly," Jim saw the potential in this unique petite piece and knew he could transform its outdated, rough look and give it a new and unique personality.
The dresser sports fluted sides, a rounded backdrop and the front two legs rest on rounded pegs for support. This little piece shows true craftsmanship of days gone by. Its five drawers were in excellent condition, but the exterior was in need of new paint. Given the luck we've had with black paint for the other dressers we've recently restored, we decided to use black paint again. We purchased new drawer pulls that we felt best suited the dresser's unique style and just as we thought, the dresser assumed a whole new identity, not at all resembling the sad little dresser we originally bought at the estate sale. It's now a respectable piece of furniture that anyone would be proud to own. With a little elbow grease, time and patience (of course vision), this old beauty has a modern, timeless look.

Here's another dresser that needed paint and TLC: http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2013/08/old-dresser-new-life.html

Antique Round Table

Antique Table Before

This was an adorable little antique table I found up at an estate sale last year, around September, 2012. I had begun working on it late summer and didn't finish it until spring, 2013. It far exceeded my expectations as far as the amount of work I had to put into it. It required a great deal of sanding as it is made of cherry (typically very hard to work on) and the details, such as the "button style" feet made it indeed a difficult piece to sand. The "fluted" top edge makes this a special little table as it shows the craftsmanship that went into it so many years ago.

Antique Table After