Saturday, April 26, 2014

Wedding gift - needs a makeover





This chair was given to my aunt as a wedding gift, and it certainly needs a bit of love and tender care. I am not sure if I will stick to the original leather style yet, or perhaps something a bit vintage or perhaps calf skin. We shall see. I have a bit of work to put it back together and into better shape first.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Beautiful old piano stool




My Dad recently picked up this beautiful old piano stool for me from a local waste recycling plant in Central Otago. It is beautiful, but has been pretty un-loved. When I am done with it, it will be as good as new. 

I spent a large chunk of time on this renovation just sanding back the water stained and disheveled stool. 


I templated and cut out the foam for the seat. 


You can see the pale wood revealed after sanding.


I then waxed the wood with a creamy clear wax which evens out the water stained colour and stops the wood splitting over time.


Then it was just a matter of stapling down the wadding.


The last step is to tack down the fabric with upholstery tacks by evenly pulling out the fabric on opposite sides. Almost done...


The toughest part is mitring the corners. It's all about getting the right fold. There are several ways of doing it, and they are all tricky.


The just make sure all the tacks are down properly and finishing tacking in the gaps. 


And we're done.