These chairs are over 20 years old, and a few of them have taken a terrible beating. At this point, they are essentially destroyed. I got a couple of bids to get them professionally recovered and those came in at about $500 for the 6. That’s a bit much, so I did my research and found that a project to recover the chairs is not terribly difficult.
I intended to replace everything .. foam, batting and cloth … until, that is, I took one of the less damaged seats apart and found that the foam was sculpted to the seat. Having read along the way that it is acceptable to cover over an existing covering, I chose that method instead.
I purchased enough batting to cover my chairs (and about 12 others it turns out :-) with a double thick poly-cotton anti-microbial layer. This was done so that any rough spots in the foam and/or tattered covering would be invisible and unnoticeable when sitting on the chair. I also purchased a nice heavy cloth that was a somewhat dark silver/grey in tone. The originals were a very nice light silver tone, but I could not find anything quite like that.
Note that I was dying to get a superb Chinese Brocade with a shiny finish and a stunning pattern sewn in. As you moved, the cloth changes color. Simply amazing. I was told, though, that so many fine threads were bound to pull very quickly and ruin the look of the chairs. The cloth was simply not made for such heavy use. I was bummed.
Anyway … here is what the worst of the six chairs looked like when I started.
Yuck or what? Note also that the sculpting at the front has let go and been crushed. I had to fold it back as best I could and wrap it around the seat itself. That worked after a fashion, but that issue, along with my inexperience in handling the corners, left a few more folds than I like. Still, the final result is slightly less than horrid. My son really likes it, so I guess I will leave this one. It can sit in the corner of the room until needed :-).
Sure looks better than before. It’s much thicker as well, which does not retain the elegance of the original, but which does feel most pleasant on the arse …
Here is the first repaired chair sitting next to the next one to be done. That will be tomorrow’s project. And maybe a couple more.
Not quite as bad as the first one, but still not great … this time, though, I will be pulling the sides and corners very tight.
For anyone who would like a change of pace in the dining room, just Google “recover dining room chairs” and you will get articles and videos that make it simple.
By the way … the total cost of materials was less than $30 … bit of an improvement over $500 I think. And I even saved the black muslin cover for the bottom, so it looks quite professional for very little cash …
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