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Cabinets, Furniture, Woodworks/Re-covering antique leather sofa & chair

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Expert: - 1/21/2009


Question

Leather chair in attic
Eileen,
I recently "rescued" a set (couch and chair) of sitting furniture from a local barn.  The previous owner did not know much about it.  He told me it was "early 1900's" and that the cushions had been re-covered but had original goose feather stuffing.  The recovering job is in a very yucky floral fabric and is rather angular in contrast to the original dark blue leather and smooth lines of the basic furniture.  I cannot seem to find anything similar in design from which to understand what the original cushions might have looked liked.  Both pieces are very deep in the seat as you can see from the picture.  I want to refinish the beautiful wood myself and have new leather upholstery installed by a professional. Can you give me any advice or sources that would help me re-cover these pieces as faithfully as possible.  I have included a photo of the chair as it was easiest to show, but can send additional photo's as needed.  Thank you.

Answer
Hi Keith
Nice to hear from you.
The very best source I can give you with regards to recovering as faithfully as possible is the professional who you take the set to.
Now don't view this as "passing the buck" LOL, but think about it..professional upholsterers do this every day.
They are the most knowledgeable in this area.
Now of course I want to add my own thoughts here as well.
First it could be quite possible that the blue leather is not original. There is only one way to tell this and its pretty easy.
You look underneath and on the back to see if there are empty tack holes. There will be lots if the set has been recovered.
Quite often there could be a scrap of the original material left tacked inside somewhere. So check both these things.
Next I will comment on the feather stuffing in the cushions but first I want you to look at this photo

http://www.hares-antiques.com/pageimages/40_big.jpg

This is what a feather cushion looks like after its sat on. Pretty awful isn't it. So my advice is to scrap the feather cushions.
I question if they were actually original to the chair or added later for comfort. Chairs I have seen of this age and style had spring cushions which were suitable to cover with leather.
These are not available today but the pro's have wonderful foam that does a better job.
Your chair is tightly covered (as opposed to the soft style leather sofas we see today which I'm sure you are familiar with)and the cushion should be too.
Your chair has what is called a "soft front". When sat in, the part that will be under your knees sags down so your pro will advise on the best material to use in this case.
You want to refinish the wood yourself and thats great. In my opinion the chair needs to be stripped of everything (down to bare wood) before the wood is done, but once again you must ask your pro how this can be accomplished.
He may say all the old stuffing and padding must go (which I will agree with) and tell you to go ahead and strip chair to bare wood.
But let him look at both pieces first.
Finally I'll give you my thoughts on the material that this set should be covered with.
Leather is a good choice. If I used fabric I would never consider a patterned one ie floral checks or stripes.
I would also consider a textured material.
Keith when this set was made there was a wide range of fabrics to choose from just like today. So for me to say it should be only this or this is wrong. Yes the fabric must be chosen with great care but there are lots of choices that would be suitable.
Hope this has helped.
Get back to me if needed.
And this is a wonderful old chair.
Regards
Eileen  
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Eileen Cronk

Expertise

Hi..I can answer most questions about the repairing,stripping and refinishing of all your old furniture and wood items(the things we call antiques)I can give advice about what to buy/avoid at auctions/flea markets. I do not give appraisals on antiques.

Experience

I have been refinishing antiques for the past 30yrs. While I have taken several courses over the years,I have found that "hands on" learning is the best teacher. Perhaps I can help you avoid some of the mistakes I made while learning.

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