Le Vintage Chair

My chair fetish has gotten a bit out of hand. I recently found a ‘bargain’ on the buy & sell website, Gumtree - a frequent online haunt of mine - a retro looking single and double sofa chair set covered in tatty 80s blue fabric. However the bones of the chairs were very nice - I liked the legs which sort of taper at the bottom and the jaunty angle of the wooden arms on the single chair. The seats were not saggy or misshapen. The double doesn’t have arms, and it’s back is smaller than its seat. Unusual, vintage, and a lot of potential! I called the seller.

The lady who was selling the chairs has more of a chair collecting problem than me. She pulled aside the black plastic that covered the understory of her house and it was a treasure trove of antique and vintage chairs, tables and other furniture, but mainly chairs. From all over the world - Thailand, Holland, Mexico - and she researches the history of each piece. She told me enthusiastically about some of them, I was there for nearly an hour. She also confided that she had two more sheds out back full of interesting old chairs and furniture! I saw a glimpse into my future as a hoarder of old furniture should I continue to follow this dangerous path.

The lady informed me that the sofa set I was interested in was German made in the late 1940s/early 1950s and was most likely used for the waiting area of an office. They could be worth something if restored and recovered. I had no intention of making money off the chairs - I just liked the look of their unusual shape and retro vibe. I bought them off her for $75.

The chairs went into my spare room and I began to make enquiries about professionally upholstering chairs and discovered it was a very expensive exercise. Being unemployed for a year I could not afford to get them reupholstered by a professional, however, I did have some fabric lying around - about 7 m of it - with pictures of French bulldogs in various Parisienne scenes on a white background. Odd, but interesting. I also had a sewing machine, scissors and pins. We had used the French fabric for tablecloths at my daughters eighth birthday party which was French cafe themed. The fabric was virtually brand new. I got to work.

I unscrewed the arms from the single chair, unpinned the back panel and draped the French fabric over the chair. I got out my scissors and cut and snipped then folded and pinned until I had the fabric in a chair shape. I held my breath, took off the fabric and sewed it together. When I put it back on the chair, it fit! I then borrowed my Dad’s staple gun to attach the fabric to the bottom of the chair. It looked good!! I couldn’t believe it - I had upholstered my first chair! Well, recovered is probably more accurate.

The double chair was next. I decided to be bolder and strip off most of the awful blue fabric. Chairs are scarily ugly with no fabric, just a few bits of wood and old foam, rusty staples and dark springs.

I carefully measured each bit of French fabric against its blue counterpart and cut it out accordingly, then carefully put it on the sofa piece by piece, like a puzzle. I decided to give it a bit of extra pizzazz with fluffy fabric on the back rest, because why not? And I had enough of that fabric left over to make 2 little fluffy cushions.

The arms and legs were sanded and re-stained with a tin of stain I found lying around in the shed .. and it was done! I am so happy and proud of my first attempt at recoveration (yes that word is made up - I can’t call it reupholstering as real upholsterers do up to 5 years apprenticeship). And it was a fun project! I have the bug now to learn more about recovering furniture - as we now have a unique, kitsch sofa set for my daughter and I to chill on, in the little cozy French themed corner of the lounge room. Bon travail!