Reupholster to Modernise

By Frank Parker

Clients approached us as they had shifted from an older traditional styled house into a new modern mid-century styled home located in the Perth hills. They had a much loved traditional Torrance & McKenna lounge suite consisting of 2 x wing back chairs and a low back 4 seater settee. They wanted to retain this lounge furniture but re-upholster it to suit their new home.

The most important aspect of this process is to select an appropriate fabric for the re-upholstery process. Our clients had two issues to consider, the upholstery fabric selected had to suit their existing lounge furniture while looking in place in a new mid-century styled home. The upholstery fabric selected fulfilled the criteria being an abstract floral design with the blue and autumn tones looking effective on the polished concrete floor and picking up the tones of the timber cabinetry.

This job was a complete re-build so we removed all the existing upholstery. The frame was re-webbed with heavy weight jute webbing and the coil springs laced into place then the sprung edges constructed. New high density foam padding was laminated to the frame bodies with the upholstery back to original including lined and padded outside arms and backs. The cushion inserts were fabricated using premium foam and then encased with bonded polyester fibre. The cushions were upholstered back to the original finish being boxed piped seats and centre piped back and arm cushions.

The result spoke for its self and our clients were ecstatic when their re-upholstered furniture was delivered. This is great example of up-cycling fine furniture which was purchased new 45 years ago and is now good for another 45 years.

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    The Classical Club Lounge

    What we generally recognise as Australian styled ‘club lounges’ were made from the late 1920’s through to the mid 1950’s. This design was not uniquely Australian however it was very popular during this era and the suite featured is typical of this period however many variations were available.

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    Our Client’s Request

    We were requested to completely re-furbish this ‘club lounge’ by a client who inherited this furniture from her parents but which originally belonged to her grandparents. This lounge suite was made in the late 1940’s and then re-upholstered in the 1970’s so it was in a dilapidated condition when received for refurbishment.

    The Reupholstery Process

    • We completely stripped the existing upholstery to the frame
    • The frame was well constructed using thick Jarrah timber
    • We screwed all the joints to eliminate any potential movement
    • We sanded back the timber arm trays and base blocks
    • Then polished the Jarrah leaving a natural finish
    • The suite was then re-upholstered using the traditional jute webbing, coil springs and hessian for the seat and back bodywork
    • For comfort and practicability we then use premium cushioning for the base, back and arm overlays also polyester encased premium seat cushion inserts.

    Combining the traditional and modern upholstery techniques gives an authentic finish but provides practical and comfortable seating.

    In rejuvenating this classic Australian styled ‘club lounge’ our clients will be able to cherish their family memories into the future.

    See more of our high quality reupholstered furniture here.

    Call us Today to Have Your Club Lounge Professionally Reupholstered
  • Le Cornu Furniture – reupholster

    Le Cornu was an iconic South Australian furniture manufacturing and retailing business. Operations commenced in 1861 when Phillip Le Cornu started a wholesale cabinet making business in Adelaide. In 1885 the factory was largely destroyed by fire and recommenced operations at a former church in North Adelaide. In 1921 the founder died and his son Phillip took over the business expanding operations and by 1924 employed 25 people.

    In 1954 the business went factory direct with a diversified range of furniture and over the next two decades expanded retail stores in S.A and Darwin. In 1989 the North Adelaide store was closed and then the business was sold to Fantastic Holdings in 2008.

    Our client approached us wanting to re-upholster a settee purchased by his parents from Le Cornu in 1959. This settee was the surviving piece of the lounge suite which he grew up with and lounged upon as a teenager. It was still upholstered in the original fabric being a ribbed velvet which would have been the latest trend at the time of purchase.

    We removed all the existing upholstery from the settee frame and it was well constructed with little structural work required. The frame was re-sprung with heavier gauge no-sag springs on the seat and the back springs were replaced with the same gauge. The springs were linked, outside arms and back were lined with hessian and high density body work padding applied. The original cushion inserts were latex and these were replaced with polyester encased premium cushions. The two seater settee was then upholstered to its original finish in a ribbed Zepel gold velvet.

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    The History of Thomas Howard Brown

    Thomas Howard Brown formed T.H Brown during 1911 in Adelaide. The brand became a household name in furniture during the first half of the 20th century being one of Australia’s largest furniture manufacturers by the 1920’s and producing its two millionth chair by the 1940’s.

    Thomas’s son Peter joined the business after his return from WWII and went on to develop some of T.H. Brown’s most iconic pieces of furniture. Peter and his brother Napier ran the business until 1987 when T.H. Brown was sold to Work Space Commercial Furniture.

    Thomas’s grandson Simon joined the business in 2015 and formed a joint operation to re-launch some of T.H. Brown’s mid-century signature pieces.

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    Our client has a classic mid-century home and wished to furnish it appropriately. She had acquired a substantial range of pre-loved furniture from this era over several years and we were fortunate in been given the task of restoring these pieces.

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    One of our tasks was to restore a set of six T.H. Brown dining chairs.

    • We carefully stripped these chairs down
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    • The chairs were then carefully sanded back
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    • Upholstered the seat with a classic mid-century textured velvet.

    This beautiful mid-century furniture was completely rejuvenated to its bygone glory days and our client is now living out her dream.

    Call us Today to Have Your Dining Chairs Reupholstered
  • Co-ordinating classic chairs

    Timberline Furniture commenced operations in Perth WA with the factory being located in Willetton. The furniture manufacturing business was founded by Ron Jones and Hedley Van Der Straaten in the early 70’s and ran through to the mid 90’s with about 10 – 12 staff. Ron was a Wood-Turner by trade and managed operations with Hedley managing sales and general business. Timberline predominantly manufactured dining furniture but also made some lounge and occasional furniture. During the 80’s they entered into a collaborative venture with co-ordinated designs, Trustyle Furniture making the lounge suites, George’s Cabinets making the cabinetry and Timberline the dining suites. These co-ordinated furniture ranges were sold by furniture retailers throughout W.A.     

    Our clients were involved in furniture retailing and furniture transport for many decades and contacted us to re-upholster their Timberline ‘Captain’s Chairs’. These were a very popular occasional chair from the late 70’s and early 80’s not just in residential sales but they were also used in commercial hospitality applications.

    The chairs were originally upholstered in a Nylex Deerhide’ vinyl which was a quality product in its days so we advised using a vinyl from the Austex ‘Studio’ as a quality replacement. The existing upholstery was completely removed, then the show-wood frames cleaned and polished. New high density foam was laminated onto the padded areas and the chairs were upholstered to the original finish with piped and space studded detail.

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  • Re-styled 1940’s chairs

    Occasionally clients are unhappy with the style of the chairs presented to us for repair and re-upholstery. This can be as a result of either initial design flaws, poor re-upholstery or poor reconstruction as a result of previous damage or sometimes a combination of these factors. The idea is not necessarily to bring a chair back its purest original form but occasionally compromise with slight re-styling to compliment the client’s décor.

    These two 1940’s chairs were presented to us by a client as they had been passed down to her through the family. She wanted the chairs to be re-upholstered however she wanted the arms modified on one chair and the wings to be altered on the other chair. This re-styling was required partially due to initial design flaws but also due to past re-upholstery exaggerating these flaws.

    We completely stripped the existing upholstery on both chairs down to the bare frames. The top arms on one chair were then cut down to a cigar shaped arm in keeping with the design while the other chair had a plywood strip removed from the inside wings which improvised as a thumb roll. The two modified chair frames were then re-upholstered using a combination of traditional and contemporary methods.

    When these re-styled chairs were delivered to our client she was ecstatic with the outcome. We trust the chairs will be enjoyed and continued to be passed down to future generations.

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  • Jardan Reupholster

    Jardan owned by brothers Nick & Michael Garnham commenced operations in 1987 from humble beginnings having eight staff by 1997 with over one hundred and seventy employed today.  All furniture is custom-made in a modern equipped factory located in Melbourne with retail outlets now in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

    A client approached us saying they had purchased a Jardan 3 seater settee when their children were just toddlers now their children are young adults and the settee has served them well but was in desperate need re-upholstery. Our clients were true patriots as they also selected an Australian made fabric for the re-upholstery.

    We removed all existing upholstery from the timber frame and the only casualty from almost two decades of heavy use was one broken spring which shows the value of purchasing high quality Australian made furniture. We laminated new high density foam to the frame body and fabricated polyester filled channelled and quilted back cushion inserts and polyester encased premium foam seat cushion inserts. The settee was then re-upholstered with the outside arms and back lined and padded with piped detail.

    Our clients were glad they had made the correct decision in having their settee re-upholstered in a quality Australian made fabric, it should be good for another two decades and the grandchildren.

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