French club chairs

This particular project is a good illustration of just how involved and satisfying upholstery can be. I was contacted about a pair of leather club chairs that were well loved but in need of a re-vamp. If possible the original leather was to be kept and re-used. So far, so good. On picking up the chairs the first thing that was apparent was the state of the leather, it was dry, dirty and out of shape. Once the chairs were up on the workbench I was able to look more closely and asses exactly what was needed to be done, I discovered the following;

• The frame was loose and needed re-gluing
• The springs although sound would need re-tying in the seat and arms
• Rodents had been living in the interior of 3 out of the four arms and had eaten through all the stuffing. This would need stripping back and re-building.
• The leather was brittle and would need cleaning, feeding and finishing
• The studwork would need replacing on the front arms

Here are some pictures to illustrate

 

The first step was to carefully remove the leather so it can be cleaned and treated and so that I could access the body of the chair to complete the structural work on the seat and arms. This was done using traditional upholstery techniques and materials. All the tacks and studs were removed from the leather and it was cleaned with a tack cleaner and cloth once all the surface was clear of grime and mildew I massaged a Balsam in to the leather with a sponge and left it to soak in. This was done several times until the leather was pliable enough to work with. Leather, if looked after, ages very well and treating it like this meant that I was able to retain a worn and rustic look without compromising the quality of the finish.

Next the leather was tacked to the chairs, leather does not behave like fabric, it is much thicker and harder to manipulate so great care had to be taken to ensure the shape of the new arms and seat were identical to the original. This was followed by the facings and studwork, again being careful to match the new studs with the originals. Finally a hessian bottom lining was tacked in place and the chairs given one last clean and polish before delivery.

Projects like this are very fluid, a voyage of discovery. It’s important to have a clear understanding of the brief which in this case was to be as sympathetic as possible to the age and style of the chairs. Lose sight of this and the project becomes something different, it would have been easy to discard the leather and start again with new hides but the depth of colour and shape of these chairs would be impossible to replicate from scratch. The skills required to get these kinds of results go beyond just upholstery but, however challenging, the satisfaction gained from bringing such handsome pieces of furniture back to life is one of the great pleasures of the job.