Furniture Redesign...Not Just a New Dress

I'm on an upholstery kick. My previous post was a basic upholstery project. Taking fabric off, and putting on new.

Now, I've upped the game and I did it intentionally. I chose an old chair that I bought about 15+ years ago from a garage sale with the intention of upholstering it, but always a bit scared. I am not a novice to craft projects, and I knew that once I opened that chair up, it would be more than just slapping on fabric.

As a disclaimer before anyone says "You kept that in your home as furniture?" I have....with a khaki slipcover. This is the first daylight this ugly beast has seen in a decade.

The next victim....project.

As I starting picking at the piece, it became very clear that a lot of glue was used to put down these edges, and that glue was brittle and cracking. 

And I did. And I was right. Old furniture is like an old house. Once you open up a wall, or look in the attic, you find serious problems that have been there for years that need to be fixed to go forward. During such projects, you ask yourself a few times "Is this worth going forward? Do we cut our losses?" Those thoughts are created out of my need to be done sooner rather than later, and when doing an extensive project...too bad, so sad. It's gonna take some time. And it will pay off.

Here we go.

We are in the initial stages of this project, so I'll tell you where we are so far. I'll be traveling a lot for work this coming week, which will be great for this project. I need to do a lot of painting and I'll be able to lay down a coat, leave for a day or so, lay down another, and so on. It works. I'll show you that plan in this as well.

As I go along, I'll try to insert prices of things so you can get an idea of what this kind of project costs. 

First, let's demo this bad boy.

I knew this chair was old because it weighs about 100 pounds and I kid you not. It has some guts that modern made furniture just does not have. So put a number in your head, I did find out the birth date of the chair, I'll let you know at the end of demo.

I began as one always should, flip it over and take off the dust cloth underneath. I want to stop here and explain another reason I was afraid of this project. In the years I have had this chair, many times I've bent over to reach under this chair to get a sock or a shoe and something sharp from the chair cuts the back of my hand. I also knew it had been reupholstered before, so someone did something odd like sewed in razor blades or something crazy. This chair was not your typical chair. It was actually a little daunting, and might even be in need of an exorcism.

Do you see connectors on the underneath of that jute? No? Trust me, they are there. Several of these need to be replaced, the razors removed. 

Underneath the dust cloth was the stretched out jute that had metal connectors with teeth to attach to the jute and to stabilize, and each of those connectors had four little blades on them to grab the jute. And there were about 20 of those connectors. Through the years they had begun to poke through the dust cloth and grab any dermis that came by looking for a missing sock. Those little demons were exorcised out of this chair. There are much less tetanus-ie ways to stabilize jute than with those tools of evil.

After taking off the dust cloth, then you start with the back of the chair and pull off the back. Keep in mind, most furniture uses a tack strip of some kind and once you leverage that up, it comes right up. Nope. Not only nope, but nope on steroids. This thing has been reupholstered no less than four times by simply putting fabric over fabric...with nails.

A previous era of fabric....plus my son is showing off his sexy leg.

How many times can you reupholster a chair, we're finding out...

Lots of nails....lots and lots of nails. No staples. I didn't think a day would come when I would want staples, but here we are.

Oh lookie, a nail and three different patterns of fabric.

It's was a tornado of fabric and nails at one point.

What does this mean? There is no "base" piece I can use as a pattern to make replacement fabric pieces. The frame looks like it's been hit by buck shot multiple times. In some places, the integrity of the wood frame is compromised because it's been nailed so many times. In between upholstery job number one and two, there was a paint job. What a mess.

I threw out the whole idea of trying to keep track of pieces and where they came from. I kept all the pieces, but I just ripped and put them in a box to deal with later. I am not sure much of it can even be used. After all that ripping, I was a bit overwhelmed at the idea of how to finish this thing.

After the fabric is gone, there was the heavy cotton batting. Then I got down to the seat (the piece under the seat cushion that generally has a lining fabric of some kind connected with upholstery), where the manufacturer's label was. That is the one piece I wanted to keep and is easy to identify. That piece has the chair's birth date. Keep guessing.

Under the seat fabric was a flimsy later of burlap. Burlap also covered springs on the back where I pulled the cotton off. I am keeping all the cotton at this point. I keep going back and forth how I am going to reassemble the back. I have two options. But that is down the road at this point, I will keep my options open.

Lots of fabric, heavy cotton batting....and a big crack in the frame. It's at this moment where you have the "Am I in over my head?"

I also found a significant crack in the frame. But it's a clean crack that a C clamp and wood glue can fix.

We're down to ratty burlap, springs and razor bladed jute. Take a deep breath.

Let's figure out this "shabby chic" paint job that is best described at "shabby".

Once I got this thing down to wood, springs, ratty burlap and jute, I decided to stop and assess.

Here is what needs to get done in the first phase. The first phase is a focus on the frame base.

First, glue, clamp and brace the break. Easy. Use good wood glue and a clamp. We already had the clamp. I had to buy a new bottle of glue because ours was old and unusable. That cost me $3 at Home Depot.

It was a nice day in the Pacific NW, a rarity in March. I dragged this out on the porch and started gluing. Those threads? Hanging off the nails I haven't pulled. This is also a great demonstration of the sheer number of nails this frame has taken. We'll be using staples, hoping this piece doesn't see another upholstery project for decades.

Glue and clamp.

Clamp and glue.

While that dries, work on the cushion. Another adventure in discovering the chair's history.

The 20+ pound cushion. How hard can this be?

Oh look! A fabric I haven't seen before even on the original chair! Good grief! Yes, three layers of fabric on this cushion. I do not like the idea of upholstering over old fabric. There is value in throwing out dirty fabrics if only for the cleanliness factor.

Heavy cotton batting on the outside....but on the inside.....

Box springs! Foam cannot compete with the durability of these babies. We're keeping these springs and cotton. But it needs to be stabilized. To move it is like picking up a puzzle, and I want to keep it together.

"Helping"

We are making a new sleeve for the cushion out of one inch thick upholstery batting. These pieces were made by measuring and cutting the original pieces and adding about an inch around. I started out hot gluing. Two blisters later, I switched to hand stitching. This batting is usually about $16 a yard at JoAnn Fabrics. It is on sale right now for 40% off, plus I used a coupon that gave me an additional 20% off my purchase.

Then I gently laid the cushion inside.

One last look before we close it up.

Final stitching. I just need to make the cushion cover now.

Second, paint the frame--correctly. I'll get that post going next as I begin that today. But it won't be done until later this week.

Third, after painting, we repair jute.

Once the paint and jute is done. Then we reconstruct the cushioning along the back of the frame and the arms in preparation for ...... yes ..... upholstery! Future posts are on the way.

Here's the vision...let this photo be your guide. I can picture it, and it keeps me focused.

I am painting exposed wood parts "carbon" black. I am using this gray/black tweed. I am excited for the smart contrast in these choices. I like that the colors give the piece a masculine and industrial look, but the rounded edges and scroll work design will also bring in a soft and feminine feel. It will also update the whole piece that can be used in a modern decor or a traditional. Planning the redesign of the upholstery and color choices has been fun.

The upholstery was bought at Fabric Depot for about $8 a yard and I bought five yards. The paint supplies include a bonding primer, latex paint and clear coat. That ran about $30 total, but all can also be reused for years to come.

Any guesses on the age of the chair?
Manufacturer's date is 1964.