This ottoman was well and truly ready for some tender love and care.
A beautiful aztec inspired fabric – medina watermelon from the Anthropology collection from warwick fabric house was decided on.
I decided to update the ottoman with a simple look, finishing with gorgeous studs around the base.
Now the ottoman is ready to be used again. The client can’t believe the transformation.
Two wingback chairs that belonged to a client’s family but were in a desperate need of an overhaul. New foam, webbing, fabric and legs gave a new lease of life to these grand old chairs.
The treasures you can pick up on the side of the road!!!!!! all you need is a little vision of what could be. This client found this chair during a council clean up and loved the shape. Once the fabric was picked – gorgeous velvet by Warwick, it was time to get to work.
All the old layers were taken off, as well as the springs, as they were rusty and out of alignment.
The legs were stripped of old paint and polish then it was time to put in new webbing, springs, hessian and padding and finally the fabric.
What is it about teenage boys who can’t sit still and need to rock back & forth on the dining room chair.
No matter who I talk to this is a common theme. Of course the inevitable happens , after countless raves at them to stop it – Yep the whole chair breaks. But can it be fixed or do you chuck it out.
After a friend told me about the chair I said I would try to fix it for her. Time to put those lessons from Furnishing Finishing course into use.
First off all the old glue needed to be sanded or scraped off so the new glue would adhere. In a number of areas the snap wood needed to be taken off so it would fit together again. All joints were glued and clamped together.
Once that job was done a fair amount of filling was required with epoxy. Once the epoxy was dried I sanded the areas back to smooth then it was the job of touching up all those areas to get the colour looking the same.
Done.
Whoops one more thing I added corner chocks underneath to give the back legs more strength – hopefully to save from another teenager rocking on the chair and snapping it.
Sometimes the simple jobs turn out to be the most effective.
I have two amazing retro stools – Ok they are looking a bit worst for wear but I love the colour and they are comfortable.
After careful consideration about maybe putting on new vinyl I decided to keep the integrity of the stools and just redo the buttons.
When I took the base of the stool off I found there was a piece of vinyl covering the bottom of the stool that I could use to make new buttons without disturbing the rest of the stool YA…………
In the end it was an easier job than I first thought but very satisfying.
An old drop in seat was delivered with some striped fabric. The owner had found an old chair that needed a revamp. They thought that they were up for the challenge but then like most of us it became all too hard and decided to give me the commission – FAB.
Off with all the old material, padding, tacks, webbing etc – nothing could be salvaged except the original frame of the seat which needed some minor repairs.
The owner was very happy with the seat and send a photo of the updated look of the chair.
I found these two old dining chairs that needed a real clean up. All the old material was taken off and the chairs taken apart. Old joints were checked, glued and clamped where necessary. Next it was a matter of cleaning up the old wood and giving it a good polish.
The seats were drop in and I wanted to find a fabric that complimented the beautiful carvings. I found some printed fabric – (nice medium weight cotton mix) with the streets of Paris on it that I think looks great.
I found two very old and neglected TV chairs that needed a new lease of life.
It just happened that I had also been material hunting at Bev’s Remnants and found the perfect material for the chairs.
One a fabulous floral which was offset by a contrasting plain material both in a cotton mix.
The wood needed to be refinished which ended up being more work than I originally thought as it had been done in a polyurethane. After all the old finish had been removed – which yes I had to do with a paint stripper but I used a citrus based one (not as harmful to the environment) and sanded back, the wood came up wonderfully and smooth with a fabulous glow which set off the new fabric perfectly.
Its always a great feeling looking back to what was and what is now, knowing that all that hard work w
as worth it.
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