Arm chair restoration

This nice setting arm chair needs restoring.

The chair seems to be of Danish design.

 Here is the chair with all the upholstery and staples removed.

All the frame joints were loose but two. 

 Below shows the frame glued up and clamped.

 After drying for 24 hours the exposed wood gets a nice coat of restor-a-finish.

 New traditional webbing. soft set.

 All the horse hait and straw dusted out and reset.

 A fresh coat of cotton for the base.

 Sure helps the base tailoring to line it before final tailoring.

 And a thin coat of cotton between the lining and final fabric.

 Just 6 traditional tacks above each front leg.

Tailored up so no tacks needed to be placed along the arms or back posts. 

 And the finished piece ready for another 50 years.

Thanks for looking!



In stock fabric video

Here is a video of the in stock fabric library I have in house from my sample books.
The video can also be found at :
http://practicalupholsteryfabric.blogspot.com/

There is some great value here if you find something that catches your eye.

The camera/computer has a hard time showing greens, wheat colors.

This video will give you an idea of the variety I have.

Music by Carl Ferris , Las Vegas NV

From his CD "All Blown Out".

Tall wing back

This solid hardwood wing back from the 1970's needs some attention.

 Nice tall thin back with a base designed for a skirt.

 LOTS of staples removed.

 Below shows the tailored skirt ready for attachment.
 I thickened up the pleats for a rich full pleated look.

 I'll hang this on the ceiling beam until its time.

 The arm tops needed some extra padding.

 The inside back needed some extra padding.
Two full rich coats of fresh cotton with some extra in the lumbar region.

 And the frame complete.
With the outside arms wings and back, backed and lined with a thin coat of cotton.

Close up of the skirt attached and tailored.

And the completed seat cushion.
The foam was steamed back to original shape.

Zipper slide pockets included of course.

And wrapped and glued poly wrap on the cushion before packing.

Chair sure looks nice on night display.

 

And the finished piece.

Thanks for looking!

Dining chair plates

Here are 4 plates from some real old time chairs.

After who knows how many decades they need some attention.

 All stripped down. 

I glued 1 broken frame back together.

3 coats of upholstery on them.

 Shown here with traditional webbing applied with just the right tension.

 Traditional burlap on top of the webbing.

This original horse hair saved and dusted out. 

 Fresh cotton applied before the final coverings.

 With a nice clean dust covers.

 Leaving all the screw holes visible for the installer.

 Clean smooth pleats on the corners.

 And the 4 plates mirror tailored.

Complete.

Thanks for looking!

Practical Upholstery

The #1 blog in all of blogdom,  for small town American upholstery shops!



Fast Boat Work

These bow seating plates need to be upholstered.

The boat that it came out of would make any water skier drewel.

This seating set is over engineered for sure!

The foward bow plate especially was a test for me.

 Used  all my experience to get this completed cleanly.

Lots of patterning on every piece of vinyl.

Below is the port side seating completed.

 And the starboard side completed.

 And the bow seating complete.

 And the back side with hide-em welt.

 And the 3 pieceslaid out as in the boats bow.

Thanks for looking!



200 year old Shield back

This job starts with 5  probably 100 year old dining plates.

Below shows the plates stripped and ready to be restored.

The webbing could be ripped with ones fingers is a good guage that the webbing life has expired.

 The amount of tack holes and the shade of the wood are good guages of age.

 Here below, stripped and glued.

 Natual horsehair dusted out and replaced.

 This glue is great for furniture repair.

Below the stuffings replaced and ready for fabric.

 And the finished plates all mirror tailored as shown below.

Ready to be installed on the frames.

Along with this job is this very old Hepplewhite arm chair.

I would say was created before the steel era since no springs were involved.

Early 1800's or possibly before.

 This removal of this bottom trim wood for upholstering is very rare.

 Some repairs on the seat strapping and tailored this up in the same manner as before.

Hand sewn corner pleats with traditional gimp nails.

 And the finished piece.

And the last pair of shield backs that have well over a hundred years on them.

 All the tacks removed.

 And the new fabric worked up together for mirrored tailoring.

Hand sewn pleats.

And the decorative tacks hand set on all sides.

And the finished chairs

 

Thanks for looking!