Recently, we were approached by
Design Republic and presented with a unique opportunity. They had a client,
Seven Haus Design, that needed a chair refinished for a charity auction. The charity was
The Furniture Bank, and the auction was thier third annual
Chair Affair. We looked into it and it sounded like a fantastic event and a great cause. The idea is that designers will choose a chair from the Furniture Bank and then redesign it, refinish it, reinvent it, what ever they decide to do. The finished product is then auctioned off and all the proceeds go to help people in need. Of course we agreed and were excited to see the design Seven Haus had come up with and what we had to work with.
It didn’t take long before we had a big orange surprise on our table.
We loved the chair! The plan was to strip it down and recover it in two tones of grey with a similar button tufting on the back and then secure the chair to a metal base that Design Republic supplied that you will see towards the end. Now to get to work.
First we stripped it down to it’s bare bones.
It’s always interesting to see what is underneath the upholstery, however, the bad part is that you have to take it apart. With old chairs no matter how good a shape they are in, it always seems super gross. Inevitably there is dust and grime or what ever else floating around in the air and you always wonder…..what is it? Is it skin dust? How many people have farted in this chair? Is that cat puke? Gross! So wear a mask and gloves.
The frame was in really good shape. It only needed a few new nails to make things a little sturdier. We had to do some fancy figuring out, as we were replacing some of the old materials (that were common when the chair was originally manufactured) with modern materials more commonly used today. Luckily for us they had used “S” springs so we didn’t have to re-tie and secure any coil springs.
After that we applied various thicknesses of foam and batting to make the chair uber comfortable. Once all that was done it was time to dress this puppy up. The fabric was a kind of felted wool. One in a dark grey and another in a light grey. If you look closely you can see a slight preview of the metal base in this picture.
Can you say “peek-a-boo”? Here you can see Terry working his magic (as only he can) on getting the butons just right so each one has the same amount of tension. Seven Haus wanted the button detail just a little lower then it was originaly. While only a subtle change, it impacted the look of the chair for the better.
After putting the fabric on the back of the chair the only thing left to do was secure it to the base. Matt is really fast at screwing! Wait, that didn’t sound good. I mean he is really thoughtful and tender, and takes his time to make sure it is done right. Terry on the other hand often just keeps to himself.
And voila! The chair is finished. It will surely raise at least a million dollars, maybe two million by our estimates.
It was a fun project for a great cause. We look forward to working with everyone again soon. Don’t forget to check out
Seven Haus Design and the
Chair Affair put on by
The Furniture Bank.
