It’s time for the Great Thanksgiving Chair Saga!
As you may recall from my last post, I had appointed my brother host for this year’s Thanksgiving. In exchange, I agreed to reupholster several items in his home, among them his Danish teak dining room chairs. After decades of use in the family, they were all heavily stained, and every back was shredded along the ridgeline. Most looked much worse than this example!
I’ve reupholstered so many chairs — how hard could this be, right? Hah, famous last words! Good thing we waited until the day after Thanksgiving to embark on this arduous adventure.
The Backs
These chairs became the bane of my existence. First off, we had to drill out the wood caps that covered the screws so we could take them apart. The seats looked like they were going to be fairly straightforward, but the backs were unusual. The fabric wrapped around the wood and slid into a slot at the bottom — but there was no way to get the old fabric remnants out of the slot because they’d been industrially glued!
I finally conceded defeat and decided to add the new fabric over the old fabric. That also provided more cushioning for the backs because, as you can see from the pic, the foam had become quite flat. Usually I’d replace foam I discover like this, but I didn’t have any on hand since I was on the road. No way was I shopping on Black Friday! And with all the chairs in pieces, this called for drastic measures so we’d have someplace to sit.
I still needed to hook the fabric together after it was wrapped around the backs. Good thing I’d brought a needle and matching thread. I ended up hand-sewing the backs in place with an invisible stitch. Very. Very. Tedious.
The Seats
It was time to tackle the “straightforward” seats. Five billion staples stood between me and the new fabric going on, What I’d hoped would be a quick morning project was now turning into an all-day affair. Dinnertime was looming, so it was time to bring in the troops.
I assigned my kids and a partner each a chair seat and a screwdriver and set them to work removing the staples. First up were the staples that held the blue plastic tape disguising the raw fabric edges. Then, there were MORE staples to remove underneath holding the fabric in place.
After much grumbling and many sore hands, the staples were out — in time for me to add more staples attaching the new fabric! The kids scattered and I didn’t hear from them for a while…
We got there in the end!
The parts all went back together and looked pretty nice in the waning light of the long day. But there were beady eyes on everyone who sat down to eat the next meal lest any food be spilled on the chairs!
Stay tuned next week for the big reveal of the vintage chair duo I’ve been working on (Vintage Chairs Part 1: From Turkeys to Turnkeys). In the meantime, if you have any furniture questions, drop me a line on my contact page, and check out my Instagram (@serendipitysequelsmn).
