Upholstery Up-cycling

By Frank Parker

Over the decades we have found considerable change in consumer sentiment towards reducing waste and up-cycling furniture. This tends to mainly occur with furniture that is built to last but the design has become out dated over time. Unfortunately lower quality furniture after several years of use ends up on verge collections, unnecessarily depleting resources and contributing to the landfill problem.  

A client approached us with a Moran sofa-bed she had purchased many years ago as a student as she required both a sofa and some were to sleep. This was well constructed and the bed action was very good condition warranting re-upholstery.

We completely removed the existing upholstery and laminated new high density foam padding to the frame body. Then fabricated new polyester filled channelled and quilted back cushion inserts and new polyester encased premium foam seat cushion inserts. The upholstery finish was modified deleting the skirts and replacing them with piped borders. The result was a smart contemporary sofa-bed which will function for another few decades.

We were also approached by a senior citizens home with quality furniture however it had become outdated over time and was also looking slightly tired. We suggested the settees could be re-styled with some cosmetic changes to the upholstery.

The settees were stripped to the frames then new heavy grade elastic webbing fitted and high density foam laminated to the body work. New channelled and quilted polyester filled back cushion inserts were fabricated and polyester encased premium foam seat cushions were also constructed. The main change in the upholstery was the deletion of skirts which was replaced in the front by a padded piped border with the outside arms and backs also then lined and padded providing a plush finish. The previous fabric was a striped satin weave and was replaced with a fresh looking abstract floral in a flat weave. The clients were elated with the result!

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    It is becoming more common to re-upholster antique furniture using bright modern fabrics. At first this may seem sacrilege to connoisseurs of fine furniture but if quality antique furniture is being saved no one can complain.    

    A client approached us saying she had found a pair of identical ‘Grandfather’ antique chairs beside the railway line in York W.A. At first we just assumed these were nothing but discarded antique reproduction chairs however upon inspection our client was correct, they were indeed genuine antique chairs from the mid to late 19th century.

    We completely removed the existing upholstery and carried out some structural repairs then touched up the polish work. We then used traditional methods to re-upholster these chairs only compromising by using premium foam seat and inside arm/back overlays. A modern teal velvet with black velvet piping was used to cover the chairs and trimmed with black gimp.

    Well what could we say, the clients were elated and the chairs looked stunning! The chairs were saved and our clients can enjoy their rejuvenated furniture for many years.

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  • Cornwell Norton chairs – Reupholster

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    Cornwell Furniture was formed in the 1960’s, a division of Parker Knoll Furniture in the United Kingdom. Cornwell was a signature range of Parker-Knoll specialising in high quality mass production motion chairs.

    The chair pictured is branded “Cornwell-Norton Ltd” which signifies it was manufactured in the Cornwell factory located at Chipping Norton in West Oxfordshire which commenced operations in the mid 60’s and closed in 2003.

    Our clients having migrated from the UK in the 1970’s had by now only a few remnant pieces of furniture from the homeland but their pride piece was this Cornwell Norton motion chair which they wanted rejuvenated..

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    The fabric selected by our clients was an English striped chenille which was period for the furniture and also suited the particular design. The chair was then upholstered to its original condition trimmed with piping and the cushions completed with buttoning.

    Our clients were elated with their chair rejuvenated to back to its stylish sixties finish and no doubt it bought back many wonderful memories of the era.

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  • Ethen Allen Furniture – Reupholster

    ByFrank Parker

    This American company was founded in 1932 by two brothers-in-law starting business as a homewares manufacturer. In 1936 they purchased a bankrupt high-end furniture manufacturer in Vermont and adopted the name Ethan Allen in 1939.

    Ethan Allen now a public company and has four manufacturing plants in the USA and one in Mexico with retail outlets across the USA and Canada. Although the company had suffered a severe decline in business over the last few decades the share price is now rebounding with the strong public sentiment towards supporting home grown products and businesses.

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    These recliner chairs were stripped back to the bare frames and the mechanisms were removed. The quality of the mechanisms were outstanding, we just cleaned them up with the timber frames only requiring minor repairs. The frames were re-sprung and new cushioning was fabricated from premium foam and encased with bonded polyester fibre. The fabric selected by our client was a 70’s pin stripe velvet which was a prefect replacement.

    What could we say, these recliner chairs looked like they had just been purchased from an Ethan Allen store forty five years ago! However the important thing was that our clients just loved their rejuvenated recliner chairs.

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  • Boans Furniture – reupholster

    ByFrank Parker

    The Boan brothers opened their first department store at Wellington Street Perth in 1895 then moved into selling furniture in 1912. After the First World War demand for furniture was strong so Boans commenced manufacturing furniture from a factory located corner Saunders and Glide Streets Perth. The range of furniture made was extensive from cabinetry to upholstered furniture, mattresses and cane furniture.

    With the anti -Asian sentiment dominate during this period the Factories Act of 1904 forced Asian furniture manufacturing companies to stamp on their products “Asiatic Labour” and so Boans like many other local furniture manufacturers of time took advantage of this situation advertising that their furniture was made with “European Labour Only”.

    During the late 1960’s Boans started retailing furniture from other specialist manufactures and also started importing furniture. Boans remained dominate and indeed an iconic retailing business in WA for almost a century and was sold to Myer in 1986.

    We were approached by a mother and daughter who had fond memories of their lounge furniture purchased from Boans in the early 1960’s which was made under licence to Parker Knoll in the UK. The lounge suite had served the family well for almost 60 years however it was certainly due for re-upholstery.

    They selected a Warwick linen to replace the original Sanderson linen so the furniture would retain an elegant appearance in their sitting room. We completely removed all existing upholstery then rectified a few minor structural issues with the timber frames. The tension springs were replaced and the bodywork padding was replaced with high density polyurethane foam and the cushions were fabricated from premium foam and encased with bonded polyester. The linen was pattern matched, cut and sewn then upholstered to its original splendour.

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  • Reupholster Parker Furniture

    ByFrank Parker

    Parker Furniture commenced operations in 1935 as Dagger & Parker formed by Alf Dagger and Jack Parker making chairs and cabinets fashioned from packing palettes. Post war they manufactured reproduction Queen Anne and Art Deco designs then Alf Dagger resigned and the business was renamed JW Parker and then Parker Furniture.

    Tony Parker joined the business in 1949 working in the polishing and finishing area while studying furniture design at East Sydney Technical College at night. Tony then left the business for the UK working in furniture sales management and design for John Lewis. Jack reluctantly made some of Tony’s modernist UK inspired designs but showed little commitment in promoting these designs. Tony then displayed these new designs at the Sydney Furniture Exhibition with a year’s production being sold in four days! Grace Bros. then stocked and displayed these new designs with sales expanding so did the staff and the factories. After several shifts Parker Furniture premises was situated on eight hectares at Seven Hills and the business employed over 380 staff by 1973.  

    The brothers sold the family business in 1990’s but without their enthusiasm and due to a changing market the company had closed by 1997. Covermore Designs rose from the ashes formed by former Parker employees and is still going strong today manufacturing some classic company designs and re-furbishing past production pieces.

    A client approached wanting her Parker lounge suite to be re-upholstered. They had previously lived in Sydney and had purchased this suite in the early 1980’s. The lounge suite remained in exceptional condition, partially due to care but also testament to the quality design and construction.

    Our client selected a linen similar to her original choice for the re-upholstery. We removed the existing upholstery with the timber frame and springing system still in superb condition. New premium padding was laminated onto the arms and frame body. New polyester encased premium seat cushions were fabricated also polyester filled channelled and quilted back cushion inners were made. The lounge suite was then re-upholstered being carefully pattern matched at all stages.

    Our client was overwhelmed with her re-upholstered Parker lounge suite as it was delivered into her home it took her back to a bygone time.

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  • Re-upholster Charles Mackintosh chair

    ByFrank Parker

    A client approached us saying they had a ‘Mackintosh’ chair in desperate need of re-upholstery. They had purchased this lounge chair in the UK in the 1970’s and it had just been re-upholstered, they were told it was made about 1910 and was a Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928) design reflecting the ‘Arts and Craft’ period.

    Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect and designer who played an important role in the turn of the century ‘Arts and Craft’ movement. He became interested in architecture at a young age and enrolled into the Glasgow School of Art at fifteen meeting the McNair children (marring one of the sisters). The foursome collaborated becoming renowned for their refined stylization of furniture. In 1889 Mackintosh became an apprentice at the architectural firm Honeyman Kreppie and was made a partner in 1901. He demonstrated a break from traditional Victorian design being influenced by Japanese and Celtic art. He was famously commissioned by Catherine Cranston to design the Willow Tearooms (Glasgow) interiors and furniture for which he developed the famous Argyle chair.

    We completely stripped the upholstery to the frame on this chair and judging from the construction techniques it coincides with the period. The chair was then re-sprung and completely re-upholstered being covered in a linen supplied by our clients.

    There is however something extremely strange regarding this chair? The construction techniques coincide with the with the ‘Arts and Craft’ period and the design coincides with the Mackintosh style of the period however from our research he never designed a fully upholstered lounge chair, only dining and occasional chairs with a few show-wood framed lounge chairs. Our client loved their rejuvenated chair and the mystery remains!

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