a recent restoration

Last fall Clay and I were fortunate enough to fit in a visit to my great aunt and uncle in Iowa. It had been years since I had last seen them and it felt wonderful to be back at their beautiful stone cottage, basking in their gracious hospitality once again.

Jamming with my little sister on the back porch of the stone cottage.

Since then my great uncle has passed on into glory, so I am even more grateful for that last bit of time spent together. 

During that visit we also received a few lovely family items since my aunt and uncle were in the midst of moving to their new beach home(!). One of the items was a gorgeous antique chair. I wish I had taken a photo of it when we first brought it home because I actually loved the original fabric. Naturally I didn't think to take pictures until I was half way done working on it. 

It ended up settling in the girls' bedroom as a pretty decor piece, but I also found myself sitting in it as I sang them silly songs and rounds and lullabies at night. After a couple months the fabric and supports just couldn't handle it anymore and one night...out popped the bottom! Another month or so later I finally got around to working on it.

First step was to rip off all the old beautiful but falling apart upholstery fabric. Then I flipped it over and inspected the spring coils and support system. This led me to do some quick online research which, in turn, led me to buy a new roll of jute webbing and decide to remake it the way it was. Best to go with the original design and the coils seemed to still be in decent shape. 

The old jute webbing was easily torn off - it was disintegrating and this is what had caused the seat to pop through the bottom in the first place.

Next step was to remove all the old rusty nails and the few staples I had put in earlier as a temporary quick fix.

Still pock marked with holes but looking decidedly better.

I drew out a rough design of how the coils were tied to the webbing before I removed it all, that way I could re-tie them properly and help give them the proper spacing needed for good seat support.

New jute webbing stretched and woven in place, fastened down with long staples from our electric staple gun. Hope it holds!

Since I did love the original fabric I searched through the upholstery fabric at Hobby Lobby trying to find something similar. I'm pretty pleased with how this choice looks.

 I ran out of piping to line the edges of the chair (to hide the staples in the fabric), so I have one last step to go. But overall it seems to have turned out rather nicely. The girls love having such a beautiful chair in their bedroom and have been rather impatient for me to finish. Now, time to see how if it holds up to my nightly singing routine.