This is a short project story – taking a rejected chair back to being good looking and useful. It is a good reference for the potential issues that can arise when trying to restore a wood finish.
Some projects would benefit from the wood work having a better colour – but that is not always possible.
The loose seat had been restored with new webbing, padding and covered in calico. The chair frame had had it’s broken joints glued – no longer wobbly – but the finish had not been touched. Some of the finish had worn with the pale patches making the appearance tatty.
The questions were whether the old finish could be removed from all areas and whether the exposed wood could take a stain to recolour it.
The chair had been coated in some varnish which usefully could easily be scraped off. Getting it out from within the detailed carving was more difficult but could still be done in a reasonable span of time.
A test of staining was positive, the colour being taken up very evenly. A rosewood stain was chosen and that was covered in many coats of French polish. A final wax polish and some elbow grease resulted in a great coloured chair.
To be fair, the rather nondescript seat cover does not do it justice – but that can quickly be changed!
If your project would benefit from having the woodwork spruced up, make sure to have the viability of that checked out!
JBerryUpholstery has many examples of furniture Recovering and Restoration and also Soft Furnishings to add to or complement the finished items. You can see pictures of these in the Galleries – Recovering Gallery, Restoration Gallery, Soft Furnishings Gallery and Transformations.
If you have some upholstery that is in need of a bit of TLC or you are interested in Soft Furnishings then please contact us.
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