I thought I would start this blog with the finish today....just for something different. At least the finished chair all wrapped up, as it was last weekend, as an engagement present for a lovely young couple I know who are soon to be married.
I had always thought this chair was special. I bought it at a community fundraising auction in a little country town. The picture below shows exactly what it looked like, except perhaps it was a little dirtier. I knew I wanted to try and fix it, although at the time I had no idea what to do with that big gaping hole where the seat should have been.
The first step involved sanding back, not too hard a job this time given it was already pretty much in a raw state. I chose to paint it with Blake & Taylor furniture paint. My young engaged couple chose their own colours...although they had no idea they were doing so at the time. A lovely combination of Old White and French Linen.
I used two coats of each paint colour on the chair, no need to prime with this easy to apply paint. I then rubbed it all over with a piece of steel wool, a little harder in spots to lightly distress, and then finished off with a natural beeswax finish.
Here it is all ready for the upholstery work, which for the first time required me to use webbing.
I used elastic webbing for the seat as the lovely salesperson at the upholstery supply shop told me I should...good enough reason for me...well actually she said it was much stronger than the jute version which is normally used for the backs of chairs now. Simply a matter of stretching the webbing one piece at a time and then weaving over and under in a criss cross pattern. All pretty easy...with the right tool! Which is this, a web stretcher.
That rubbery piece at the top rests against the chair while the sharp piece at the end pulls the web tight., so you can tack it into place. This little baby didn't come cheap. I paid over $40 AU for it two years ago, but if you are planning on doing a few of these jobs then it's an absolute must. I couldn't have done without it!
Once the webbing was in place, a covering of hessian (burlap) is tacked into place. This is how it looks underneath. I love seeing things come together!
Once the hessian was completed, the steps are exactly the same as the window seat / storage box that I completed a few months ago, you can follow the directions here But in a nutshell, it involves, foam, Dacron, calico and then fabric.
Tacking around the back corners of the chair was tricky...I would imagine it gets easier with practise, but also the right tools again. I ran out of tacks and sent my hubby off to buy some more. He came back with more tacks and this..a proper upholstery tool. I love him! So much easier!
Final steps involve attaching the trim with a hot glue gun and attaching the bottom cloth.
And here it is the finished product.
Did you notice the beautiful upholstery linen on the chair? It is the lovely Bohemian Blooms from the very talented designer Thea Samios of Thea and Sami
I had some left over from a previous project.
and the Before and After...always such fun!
I hope you like it! Lisa xx
