Chair Before and After

I couldn't wait to share the transformation of these chairs, in fact I only finished one so here it is even though it's not a fully finish project.
I bought these 2 cane sided barrel shaped chairs just last weekend at an Estate sale. The home was clearly owned by a heavy smoker and these two chairs although a bargain brought the odor along with them. I left them outside for 4 days, ripped all the material and stuffing off of them, sanded the wood (which also smelled like smoke) then gave them two coats of oil based stain finish called Polyshades by Minwax in Bombay Mahogany.
I bought all new foam and materials, the fabric is 100% Linen in a creamy white. It was a lot more work than I expected, the upholstery job was challenging but I think the first chair came out pretty good.

Before


After


Before


After


The 2nd chair will go on the other side of the book shelf to frame it. Now the walls above are looking a bit bare to me, I might have to get back to painting soon...



*Here is a little more detail on exactly how I did this.
I removed the screws that held on the seat, carefully stripped off all the materials one by one on both seat cushions and on the backs of the chairs. (I wore a mask and gloves, that's how smelly these were)
I took pictures of every step so I would remember how to put it back together with new everything, and I even kept one seat foam cushion and the foam from the chair back for a template for the button placement.

I washed the chair frames with a wood cleaner first and then dried them. Then I sanded the chair frames with a sanding block 180 grit then 220. I lightly sanded the caning with the 220 just to give a little rough surface for the stain.
Wiped them down to remove the dust then painted on thin coats the Polyshades, which is more of a paint varnish than a stain so you don't need to sand too much, it kind of lays on top on the wood but is still translucent. It's oil based and I found it too thick after the first coat, so I diluted it with turpentine on the second coat. Extra thin coats on the cane parts, I waited a day between coats.

Here is the close up of the old finish


After 2 coats, it was done.
Here is the frame fully refinished ready for upholstery, the red rich mahogany color came out great and it now matches our bar chairs and dining set.


The seat backs consist of many layers 8 to be exact if you count the buttons as a layer.
The first layer is the Linen fabric for the back, then a layer of dacron (white polyester badding) then webbing straps for support, then the foam with holes punched out for the buttons, then more dacron I used a liner fabric of white material then the Linen outer fabric. The buttons were made using a 5/8" button kit and I used cotter pins to secure them with a special washer thing I took off the original upholstery job on the chairs.


I used this technique on Apartment Therapy for the diamond tufting and had done it once before on a larger scale for this headboard. I copied the pattern from the material I took off the chairs, which made it easier. The tufting is done before I stapled it on the chair frame.








Then I made what's called double piping or welting and hot glued it to cover the staples and give it a finished look. Double piping up close.


The seat cushion reupholster job was much easier and pretty basic, a layer of dust cover over the springs, then foam, a layer of dacron, a layer of white liner fabric then the Linen. You wouldn't need a liner fabric if you have a thicker upholstery but I used this a 7.1 oz linen and you could see through it just slightly.
I spray painted the frames of the seats black (just because I had black spray paint) to seal them and cover the smell of smoke that was in the wood. A single piping edge was stapled to the frame before I screwed the seat bottom back on.