French Chair Repair and Makeover

I came across this french chair at a thrift store a couple years ago and it was marked down because the seat springs were loose! Lucky for me, I was feeling adventurous and fell in love with the curves of the frame, so I scooped it up. It would take awhile, but I knew the potential of the chair out-weighed the work that would take to repair the spring, reupholster the fabric and update the frame.


This is what the chair looked like before. If you look carefully, you can see the indent on the seat where the spring were loose. The fabric isn't stained horribly in the picture, but it was stained all along the trim and needed a french update.






After removing all the batting carefully so that I could salvage them for reuse (they were in good shape), those loose springs popped up!






Using the 8-way-tie method, I secured all the springs back down securely. This was a tedious process but so necessary and I noticed that previously they were only tied down using the 4-way-tie method, so this would last a lot longer!






I added back all the batting and because I wanted the carved details of the wood frame to stand out more I used a white wash method to paint the frame, then dry rubbed the white wash off, to make the wood still visible. This basically let the white wash just remain in the recessed parts of the frame.






After that I carefully measured, cut and stapled down new upholstery fabric, which I chose to be a grain sack-inspired fabric. In this light it make the frame look almost bluish, but in natural light I captured the true-to-life effect that the white wash had (pictured below).






Finally I added some white gimp trim to the edges and it was done!






I love how the details just pop now! I know not everyone would white wash the frame, but because this chair was not a true antique, but a reproduction, and I wanted to make those carved details stand out more, I felt this finish would achieve that without completely covering up the natural wood.






This chair is one of my favorite furniture transformations ever and taught me so much!






The result is a beautiful french Rococo chair that is completely repaired and functional now with new upholstery a finish that makes the details stand out.
If you would like to see the tutorials for every step of the process including:
How to Strip a Chair
How to Repair Chair Springs
How to White Wash the Frame & Reupholster a Chair
BE SURE TO VISIT MY BLOG POST BELOW, where you will find all the links to this french chair transformation!







Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/14150972/french-chair-repair-and-makeover site