1930s Chair, Restored and Reupholstered

One of the latest commissions involved the complete restoration of this lovely chair from the first decades of the 20th Century.

I treated the solid walnut wood structure, plus applied a light stain. It all got sealed with clear varnish, and then got polished for a smooth, satin finish.

The upholstered seat had been 'patched' through the years and was not salvageable, so I took everything out and started from scratch, using the customer's fabric of choice, a soft white jeans cotton.
Check the 'making of' section for step-by-step pictures.

Measures: seat 40 x 42cm, 40cm high. Back rest height 78cm.

A series of pictures taken during the restoration process: The chair in its original state (looks much better than it really was). Taking off the old upholstery, staple by staple and nail by nail... it had been 'patched' through the years, but there was still some of the old straw!

Replacing the old rubber bands for new ones, cutting the shape of the new high density foam.

Then it was the turn to deal with the wooden structure. Sand, treat the woodworm damage, then filling the little holes with wood putty

Slight stain, sealing with clear varnish and finally polishing. Then, the final steps of the reupholstering: fastening the batting;

And carefully covering the seat with the customer's fabric. I also placed a dust cover (not shown)