So we had this really great chair that we rescued one day and have been meaning to re-upholster for ages now. Foxy, our cat, had fallen in love with the chair as it sat temporarily in our living room, apparently she watched with great sadness as Sharon removed it to the garage. I am trying to keep a handle on projects that make it to the garage so I decided to tackle stripping it down right away. Such a dusty project! But as you can see the chair has really great bones.
The covering of the chair was disintegrating and so was the jute strapping that held the springs from the bottom. In fact once I had started pulling all the furniture tacks it was really interesting to see how this chair was constructed.
Under the covering was a thin burlap like layer over cotton pile and straw! Then another thin burlap or jute layer and a network of rope (likely jute) tying the springs into place. The springs were attached to a woven layer of thick jute strips on the bottom and then a thin black clothe finished things off. Everything was tacked together.
Sharon wanted me to keep the covering as a template, but the seat part fell apart on me. I tried with the chair back but when she came out and saw it she decided it would be easier to just do it from scratch, so all the straw and materials went into the garbage. I kept the springs which are in fantastic shape.
So now the decision. I could make a stiffer seat by upholstering an insert and then covering the whole thing. Or I could reconstruct the original seat with strapping top and bottom (I think that would be easier than the rope thing on top. I’m going to give the whole thing a nice sanding and then re-finish the wood. But for now the garbage is dealt with which was my main goal. I’ll definitely do a video when I finish the wood and when we re-upholster the chair.
Let me know your thoughts...