Saturday, December 28, 2013

Interesting Round Retro Chair - Off White

Here's a very interesting retro chair. It came into our shop in an old mint green fabric, with a torn bottom fabric, and missing centre button.













Several of the string ties were torn loose (not that clearly seen in this photo):



Back springs re-tied, frame repaired, and legs re-sprayed in fresh black paint.



Finished chair. Note that the fabric is a velvet/velour type with a pattern of leaves (see last photo).









Arm Chair - White

Here is a simple square-back arm chair redone in a white cotton fabric. The original seat cushion was missing.



You can see the fading from the sun over time.





During:



After:







Thursday, November 14, 2013

Beautiful Antique Wing Chair - Grey

Here was a rather nice old wing chair. Likely from around 1930-40. It had wonderfully carved Chippendale style "claw and ball" feet.

As received, the chair had clear signs of a poor upholstery job. If you look carefully, you can see a lot of uneven bumpiness, loosely stitched corner joints, and some other issues.





Legs (before touch-ups):



Lots of wrinkles and lumps:



The back looked pretty bad. Notice how the top follows just down half the wing, then makes a loose curve away from the edge. Check the last photo of this post to see a much better finish for a curved back panel.



Pierre knew immediately that this was a terrible job, and he cut a few exploratory holes into the upholstery. Here's what we found:





After removing the pink layer and extra padding, he had most of the original green embroidered (and quite beautiful) original fabric:





Here's the chair completely stripped of the green (which we were able to use for our patterns).



Thin new layer of padding over the original cotton.



And finally, the completed chair. What a difference!





The legs were touched-up with a very dark stain (near black), and waxed for a soft sheen.





Note how the back now follows the beautiful curves of the chair frame.

Pair of Vintage Ottomans - Light Yellow

These were two fun and interesting ottomans. The owner had us paint the frames white, and reupholster them.

As received (I actually really loved the look of the old yellow-gold velvet):







After:

Note: the casters are going back on them, but they needed to be cleaned and polished, and the owner was going to do them himself.






Antique Reproduction Table Repair

This was a rather awkward break to repair, but in the end, it turned out quite well.

The table was purchased online, and it arrived to our client with one leg very badly damaged. The table is made to look like a Louis XVI style piece, but it's a fairly recent reproduction. Because of this, some of the joinery (construction and glue joints) are not the best quality, and the table didn't travel well.

Here's the table "as received" and viewed from the back (the front has a drawer).



Details of the break:





To reglue the joint, we had to make custom clamp blocks. Once the leg was dry, the excess glue was removed, and portions of the damaged veneer were cut away for new mahogany patches.



Hairline cracks were puttied.



The finished table, after colour matching, touch-ups, and lacquer.







Can you see it?