A while ago some clients approached me about renovating their much loved Victorian sofa. They had bought it in London 35 years ago for £50 and when it became worn out, they decided to invest in this beauty rather than replace it. The upholstery was very old and worn, but the frame was in good condition. Here are some photos of the rebuild… Despite the challenges of a drop arm, here she is, all rebuilt with traditional upholstery methods and materials and dressed in a wool & flax fabric with new seat cushions ..read more

Before… A while back, I bought a set of four Victorian balloon back dining chairs to restore and sell at Artist Open Houses during the May Festival. I wanted to showcase the amount of work and skill that goes into traditional upholstery but also illustrate how traditional antique furniture can be made to look contemporary and stylish. This is a shot of one of the chairs before it was stripped back and the stuffing I discovered in the seat. An eclectic mix of the original seaweed & coir stuffing and some more modern bits of what looked like a massacred nylon teddy! During Here are just ..read more

A lovely customer recently asked me to reupholster four dining chairs for her. She had inherited them from her parents who had been given them by their neighbour – Aunty Win. The fabric reminded me of the carpet bag that Mary Poppins pulled a standard lamp out of…. Anyway, I digress! They were lovely solid frames but they needed new seats. Here’s some of the processes that went into rebuilding the upholstery… Webs, springs & lashing Hessian and stuffing And lots of stitching After the second stuffing and calico, I really enjoyed using the beautiful Welsh wool fabric that m ..read more

Suparest… Suparest were an English furniture manufacturer back in the 1930’s. They made some interesting pieces usually with some form of bentwood in the design. I found one of their chairs and upholstered it for a friend a few years ago – see previous blog ‘Silk stockings & Bed Springs’.  Last summer, I came across another rather special one… As you can see it was in a bit of a sad state, covered in grim red vinyl and the beautiful wood had been covered up with brown paint. However, its potential was singing to me so I bought it. You know I like a challenge… Bit of background This cha ..read more

This old sofa is owned by a lovely Brighton artist who paints fabulous watercolours. It once belonged to her mum and she wanted to make it comfortable again and give it a new lease of life. The sofa had originally been upholstered using traditional methods and materials so I used the same approach to keep it true to its original form. Here’s what was underneath the fabric. Once stripped back to the frame, I began rebuilding the upholstery, starting with new stitched and stuffed arms. Then a new sprung back: Some fabric… And a new sprung, stitched and stuffed seat… Some more fabric, plus ..read more

I’ve been meaning to write a blog about this beautiful old French nursing chair for a while now. The owner was moving back to Vancouver Island and wanted to have the chair reupholstered before she left. She loved the hessian and webs exposed at the back and wanted to try and retain as much of its character and history as possible. The frame had some woodworm which was quickly treated and its cover was a beautiful raw silk that was very frayed. When I took off the cover you could see the original colour of the silk where it had been tucked inside the frame and had not been faded by exposure ..read more

Traditional upholstery is about so much more than the fabric that covers a chair. Underneath the surface there is layer upon layer of work to create, build and sustain the shape of the chair. All achieved mainly using these and a few simple tools… I know, I’d never make a hand model! People are often surprised by the cost of traditional upholstery, so I thought it would be worth showing quite how much work goes into it… The Arms There are over 10 stages to build traditional arms – even more if they are sprung! Here are just a few… The Back This is going to be a buttoned back – which i ..read more

A while ago, some friends of friends asked me to reupholster their two seater sofa. They had bought it when they were first married about 20 years ago and it fitted perfectly in the front room of their cottage. It has been well loved over the years but needed some work. Now, I don’t tend to upholster modern sofas, but this one had a bit of story. The family were off on their holidays to the Scottish Isles and wanted to buy the fabric while on the Isle of Harris – the home of Harris Tweed. They have family connections with that part of the world and liked the idea of buying it straight from sou ..read more

Cherry red A while ago I was approached by a lovely client who had inherited her Nan’s rocking chair. She was very fond of it but the cherry red velour and dark wood didn’t really fit into the style of her house. The foam inside was old and crumbly so that was removed and then I set about stripping the dark varnish off the wood. Many sanding sheets later, I applied some traditional wood finishing techniques to the show wood. Now rather than dark brown – it’s a warm honey colour. Transformation With completely new foam and cotton wool felt, it was then covered with a gorgeous turquoise blue, fi ..read more

So I have this friend called Linda. She is very, very lovely. You’ve probably already worked out that she comes from Northumberland, in fact from a little place called Alnwick. She’s lived down south for years now, but she still goes back ‘home’ a few times a year to visit family and friends, and the ruggedness of The Borders still have a strong hold on her heart. She even has a Border Terrier called Hinny… Awww. So Linda has got a good eye for a 2nd hand bargain and a few years back she found this lovely old 1930’s sofa on eBay. Only after she’d won the bid did she realise it was actually b ..read more