Occasionally we receive antique chairs which are basically well preserved but they have been previously shabbily re-upholstered or upholstered out of context with the era. This rarely does the furniture justice and usually results in complete restoration.
Our client came to us with a lounge chair made in the 1890’s having been originally purchased by her deceased husband’s grandparents. She was honest in explaining that under her instructions the chair had been re-upholstered in the early 1980’s in a pastel cotton and the style modernised to match their décor at a previous residence. She was now ashamed of her previous decision and wanted the chair re-upholstered to its previous glory.
The chair’s design had been modernised by having a loose seat cushion fitted and absence of piped detail. We removed all the upholstery stripping the chair down to the bare frame and the turned timber legs were then cleaned and polished. Heavy weight jute webbing was then fitted to the seat and back, the coil springs laced, tied down then hessian overlays fitted. We used synthetic ‘thumb roll’ on the seat front, arms and back scrolls then laminated premium polyurethane foams finished with polyester overlays. The seat cushion inner was fabricated from high resilience foam and encased with bonded polyester fibre.
The chair was then upholstered using a fabric selected by our client which suited the chair and was basically in keeping with the period. The result was a chair which was modernised to a degree under the cover for comfort however retained much authenticity with the upholstery finish and piped detail. Our client was over joyed with her chair and no doubt will become a family heirloom.
