Recovering our Diningroom Chairs

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For my birthday (almost two months ago) my mother and I recovered the chairs to the dining set that came to us almost a year ago. Thanks mum!

The set originally belonged to my great-grandparents (Agnes and Nelson Johnson) and made their way through several lives to our home. My grandmother had recovered them years before they arrived here, and while I have a fondness for anything so "her" the stuffing was showing through and it was time for their next life.

While my mum and I talked about going to Osgood's in Springfield (great place for upholstery and large quantities of fabric), she ended up having enough fabric leftover from another project - refinishing another set of chairs from the same great-grandparents! Those chairs had originally been covered in a red silk velvet which lasted well over fifty years! Current prices of silk velvet being cost prohibitive, my mum chose a beautiful rusty-raisin colored mohair velvet. Mohair is also known for durability.

Unscrewing the seat from the frame, I had an adventure with pliers ripping out all the staples holding the fabric and padding in place.

Using the previous cover as a pattern, we traced on the back of the fabric and cut four new pieces. Using a dense foam and batting to round the edges and hold it in place, we stapled the new fabric in place and screwed the seats back in place.

These wonderful old chairs have a new look and a new life. We are so thankful to have items from our family's past, and grateful to get to give them a new round of memories. It's wonderful to combine our appreciation for the old-fashioned, our love of history, and putting old things to new uses.

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