Normally I would look down upon the finished product of this beautiful rocker because this is clearly not the original fabric from the 1920's. When I bought it from a thrift store (for $12) it had no back and no seat. I spent almost a whole day researching it to find out when it was made, it's value, and what the original fabric may have looked like. Once I had an idea I could see that it would be extremely hard/ expensive to find similar fabric to the original, and trusts me original is ALWAYS best. So I had the opportunity to make it my own and add some new fabric. Since there was no seat and no back I had an excuse to. Most of the time people would rip out perfectly good original, valuable, antique tacks and fabric simply just because they're old or "ugly" or they don't match their decor. I cannot stand people like this!
Off subject; but one of the biggest things that makes my blood boil the most about antique solid wood furniture is when someone paints a solid wood antique piece of furniture! Why in the world would you think it is a good idea to change something about a piece that has survived that long looking as awesome as it does?! Why do you have to be the one who rips it out or paints it! Once you've stripped a piece of furniture of all the layers of paint from these idiots over the decades you'll never paint one again! I cannot say it enough, original is always always ALWAYS best.
But laminate or vinyl furniture, paint all day long! Just, use the right primer. Sorry for the rant.
According to what I found it probably made around the 1920's by hand and looked a little something like this:
Here's how I transformed this ugly duckling into a swan:
You will need:
-Chair
-1/2" Plywood
-1" Foam
-1/2" Dacron and polyester padding
-Fabric of your choice
-Upholstery tacks
-Stapler
-CREATIVITY!
This is how I originally bought it:
1. Make a template of the new seat and back from paper to trace on to the plywood.
2.Trace your templates onto the plywood
3. Use a jigsaw, and a friend (if you have any), to cut out the patterns.
4. Do a dry fit of your cutouts to make sure they actually fit before you go a head and cover them. You may will probably have to sand some most of the edges down so they fit just right.
5. Cut out some pieces of foam using the same template to use as the cushion of the seat and backing.
7. Cover the pieces with the polyester padding first to hold the foam on the wood, attach with staples. Then do the same with the new fabric. With the chair backing you will want to use more fabric if it is visible from the back. Otherwise, this is what you'll see if you turn the chair around.
8. Attach the seat and backing to the chair with nails and then secure/ decorate them with some upholstery tacks.
9. DO NOTHING TO THE WOOD BUT CLEAN IT!
And the finished product:
See the transformation of this side table that I bought from the same booth as the chair here: Richlands Rental DIYs
