Expert: Eileen Cronk - 3/29/2008

Question
I have an antique love seat that belonged to my great grandmother the wood is still in good condition but the pegs holding it together have either broken off or split and the upholstery is in bad shape and it has a dark stain on it how would I go about removing the stain so I can go to a lighter shade and fixing the pegs as well as reupholstering it.

Answer
Hi Todd
Nice to hear from you.
The first part of this question I can help you with.
The second part I will advise LOL
Not sure if your going to like the work involved but I think if you take your time you can do it.
Unfortunately all the existing upholestry will need to be removed.
Sorry but in order to get at and properly repair the damage you must do this.
It sort of sounds like you wish to recover the seat anyway and the old fabric (with the dark stain) must be removed in order to do this.
Todd it must be removed in order to add new anyway.
So heres what I'd do.
Remove the fabric. Try not to damage it too much as it will act as the pattern for your new material.
Next remove subsequent "stuff" in neat layers and place somewhere so it will not get mixed up.
There could be a layer of underlying fabric and next stuffing.
Stuffing takes many forms could be cotton batt, could be something called horsehair or I have found stuff I will call like a fine sisal.
Try to keep the stuffing in its original form.
Next there will be a burlap type material covering the springs.
This is usually in awful condition and will need replacing.
Get all the upholestry tacks removed at this point too.
Now the repairs.
You will have to determine the size of the broken dowels. Probably 1/2 inch, but you need to replace them.
Lumber yards sell dowelling by the foot and will cut it for you if you can't.
Next you will have to remove all the broken dowels.
Clean the holes of old glue as best you can.
Then add new glue and the new dowels and clamp the areas.
Before you start the gluing, you must have on hand large pipe clamps.
These can be rented or borrowed.
Always protect the area the clamps touch with wood blocks as the clamps can marr the wood.
Leave the clamps on 24 hours if possible.
Next I would clean the wood. That is the exposed areas. I don't mean the interior wood.
Use steel wool as a scrub pad dipped in mineral spirits.
Have lots of clean rags to dry as you go.
Next you can apply a light coat of Minwax stain with a rag in a color close to the original.
This will hide any scratch marks and just freshen the piece up.
This could take 48 hours to dry but don't panic.
Next apply a coat of low luster tung oil with a rag.
Now you have a lovely piece ready to recover.
Now at this point my wheels start spinning LOL.
Yes I have done a bit of this upholestry work over the years..mostly for myself, and I would not hesitate to do this if needed in my shop.
But doing and trying to explain it are different.
I do know that the springs will probably need to be retied. You will see a rope like material holding them (a lot of it will be broken).
I do know that the webbing that the springs sit on will need to be replaced or at least tightened. You need a little inexpensive gadget called a webbing stretcher to do this.
I also know we have an expert on our site who does this work....cowards way out LOL.
Look on the same page you found me.
And keep me posted if you run into problems..I am interested in this.
And get all the info you can before proceeding so you will be confident you can do this yourself.
I am telling you my way, perhaps there are other ways.
I really hope you can do this yourself as its very expensive to have done by a pro.
Regards
Eileen



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