 Two horribly dirty armchairs from the Seventies had a modern make over. Grey body with brown piping and yellow details on the front.
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 Caroline: I got this chair for next to nothing in a terrible condition - painted white and without seats - from a student who wanted to get some extra cash. The chair had bite marks all over the legs from a smaller dog and one armrest had been fastened into place with a large nail right through the top. I used a heat gun to get most of the thick paint off and sanded it down, to get the paint out of the bite marks I actually sat with a small pin needle and chiseled it out with huge patience. It was utterly boring and many days I wanted to give up and leave little flecks of white paint here and there. But I didn't and now this is my favorite armchair. I kept the large nail through the armrest as a reminder of its past and I patched up the bite marks a bit, but also here I wanted to keep a bit of history on one leg. The seats I recycled from an old no longer existent couch that I had found in a friends attic. The little stool I bought at the flea market. Someone had literally staple gunned an ordinary pillow to make a seat for it. I built it up from scratch and glued a large crack running down one leg. I stained it and dressed it to match the armchair. Many have seen the resemblance of these kind of chairs and the 1960s Danish styled furniture. I have been told that at the time carpenters in Israel actually just copied or borrowed ideas straight out of Danish furniture catalogs since it was nearly impossible or extremely expensive to import these kinds of items. Please click on one picture below to see the gallery of before and after pictures.  Caroline: A little while back I got a slightly odd request. Someone wanted me to attach soft seats to some kitchen chairs. I suggested getting some cushions - you know the type that ties onto the back or legs - but in this case the person wished to have the soft cushions attached to the seats permanently. I met with them and it turned out that because of illness it was hard for them to sit on hard chairs without sliding off. So I understood the need. The person also had a strong wish as to HOW the seats would look and gave me two old cushions that they wished to use as material. The cushions were quite small so I couldn't take the easy way out and wrap the material around the whole seat. Instead I had to devise small seats that were attached and try to hide the staples underneath. After twisting the problem around in my head for a while I figured out how to do it neatly. It took many hours of getting the tiny piece of fabric to fit and hand stitching but in the end it turned out quite nice and comfortable. Here are a few pictures:  Linnéa : I got a very interesting job from a Swedish woman. She had a chair that she bought at an auction in Sweden. The Emma chair - which is a baby nursing chair - had it´s breakthrough in the 1840's and this chair is at least 100 years old. She had a piece of fabric called "Teheran", designed by the well known Austrian-Swedish architect and designer Josef Frank (1885-1967). This fabric was designed in the 1940's but it wasn't printed until 1991 by Svenskt Tenn (an interior design company). I started to work on the chair, but I soon realized that the fabric I had been given wouldn't be enough but at least I had what I needed to finish the front of the chair. We agreed that she would bring more fabric from Sweden, when I got the piece for the back of the chair, the material was a little more rough and of course darker (since the first piece had lost colour over the years). But it actually turned out really pretty, even though you can see the difference of the two fabrics.  Caroline: This is Yaron's chair which had been covered by a blanket for the past number of years to hide the bland skin coloured fabric of it. After finding a nice colourful curtain from the 70's they asked me if I could reupholster it. Which is ok but just to let everyone know, to use a fabric that is not meant to be used for upholstery of furniture is a little bit tricky. First one must stabilize the fabric by gluing (ironing on) another material called Vlieselin on to the back. This takes along time since the iron has to stand in one spot for at least 30 seconds. So you can imagine the amount of time it takes to do a big piece or curtain with a tiny iron. The second problem is that with the Vlieselin on the back the fabric becomes very rigid, it is not stretchy at all, which makes it very hard to stretch over a chair that is rounded. Therefore one ends up with little creases which are hard to remove. I am hoping that with time that the fabric will shaped itself, but time might just as well make the creases more visible. I will have to wait and see. In the end it turned out quite pretty I think.  Caroline: As requested here is a step by step guide of the process of redoing a stool. Most of the text you will find under each photograph. I just want to say that I have discovered that the world of upholstery is amazingly stimulating and fun! All the different layers and the seat springs that in this case have been hand made by someone at least 70 years ago are beautiful. Click on one picture to see the gallery and step by step guide:  Caroline: This was a commissioned job, to reupholster 2 stools from the beginning of the last century. The clients had an old curtain from the 70's that they wanted me to use and it turned out great. Click on a picture in the gallery below to get details of each step of the transformation from brown, dirty corduroy stools that melted into the background, to happy colourful stools that make a statement. Thank you Yaron for taking the beautiful 'after' pictures and thank you Khaleesi for posing so nicely! |
Linnea & Caroline2 foreigners in Israel trying to find their space. Up-cycling furniture and clothes for a better environment and future. Check us out on Instagram:
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