Stories

  • Re-upholster Antique Chairs

    ByFrank Parker

    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.

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  • Re-upholster Chess Lounge Furniture

    ByFrank Parker

    Chess Lounge Furniture originally commenced operations in the early 1970’s as BGF Furniture being a business partnership between Stan Bishop, Rod Grayson and Charles Farmer. Several years after commencement Charles Farmer left the business and it became Bishop & Grayson Furniture then in the late 70’s Rod Grayson left the business and it became Bishop Lounge Furniture. In the mid 80’s Stan Bishop retired and his foreman Paul Demopolis with his wife Glenis took over the business under the name of Chess Lounge Furniture. Paul and Glenis retired in about 2010 and ceased operations.

    Throughout the history of this business from BGF Furniture to Chess Lounge Furniture they manufactured custom made mid-range furniture. This furniture was always soundly constructed and represented good value for money.

    Our clients approached us wanting to re-upholster a three seater purchased from Chess Lounge Furniture in the late 1980’s. This settee was part of a co-ordinated lounge suite including two wing back chairs however they were downsizing and had decided to only keep the settee.

    The upholstery was completely removed from the timber frame, new seat springing and back webbing was fitted along with new high density body padding. All the cushion inserts were replaced. The seats were polyester encased premium cushioning and the backs were polyester filled channelled and quilted inserts. Our clients wanted to slightly modernise this settee so we eliminated the skirts replacing it with a padded border and replaced the black nylon glides with Jarrah turned feet. The fabric selected was a contemporary design lined yet printed with a traditional colour pallet. The result was a settee with a new lease of life retaining its character in a new setting.

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  • Re-upholster leather Tessa furniture

    ByFrank Parker

    Tessa Furniture is an iconic name in Australian furniture manufacturing being a prolific name during the heydays of local furniture industry. Although refurbished mid-century modernist furniture with a Scandinavian influence is a niche market the interest not only resides with those who have been fortunate to have witnessed this period of design history. Some discerning members of younger generations are purchasing or inheriting this furniture and having it restored.  

    A client approached us with her much loved Tessa leather lounge suite which she had inherited from her parents. She wanted the lounge fully restored as she remembered it growing up on the family farm.

    We completely removed all existing upholstery then sanded the frame back to bare timber. Several timber rails were re-glued then the frame was finely sanded. The Tasmanian Myrtle timber frame was then stained back to the original finish and given three coats of lacquer being lightly sanded between coats.

    The original springing systems were fine in the backs and the settee seat however new premium quality elastic webbing was fitted to the chair seats to conform to the original specifications. New channelled and quilted polyester back cushion inners were fabricated likewise new polyester encased premium polyurethane seat cushion inners. The quality of the seat and back cushion inners however far exceeded the original upholstery componentry.

    It is extremely important to use a high quality leather for the upholstery and we used the Tasman ‘Matisse Manuka’ which is a superior quality semi-aniline leather from New Zealand. All the detailed stitching was replicated and needless to say that our client was elated at the family lounge suite being returned to its former glory days.

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