A Refurbished Ladies Chair

This intricate crest belongs to a dainty little ladies chair. It is so small that by our standards we would think of it as a youth's chair.  But then people are a lot bigger now then they used to be!  Now it is just the right size for an occasional bedroom chair  or for sitting in when you are putting your shoes on.  

The chair came to us with broken cane on the back.  Enough was broken that we really couldn't repair it, we needed to completely replace it.  It was woven with a 'blind cane' method, so the holes that the cane goes into don't go all the way through to the back.  This is much more challenging then regular hand cane.  Once the cane work was done, the 'blonde' looking natural cane needed to be colored to better blend in with the chair.

We also refurbished the chair.  This means that we refreshed the existing finish rather then applying a new one.  Depending on the method used, refurbishing isn't always a job that requires high levels of skill, but it does require high levels of labor.  For this chair we chose a wax color that would fill in where the old finish color had worn off.  This wax is applied by hand, left to dry, and then polished by hand.  This polishing process is quite labor intensive and not for the weak of elbow.  And in addition, this chair has so many little nooks and crannies that the polishing task was bumped up several notches in difficulty.  No one wants a glob of wax stuck in one of those pretty carved leaves!

Re-Weaving a Wicker Hamper

This wicker hamper was shipped to us from out of town.  We have gotten several out of the area clients lately who think so highly of our work that they are willing to pay the postage.  This vote of confidence makes us very happy!  

What makes us sad is that someone used this lovely hamper as a stepping stool.  Just so you all know, you should never, ever use your woven furniture for standing on.  It is very sturdy stuff, but doesn't like shoes.  We once had a chair come in that actually had a high heel shaped hole in the seat!  Oops!

Fortunately we can re-weave broken items like this.  We had to straighten out the metal shelf support and then weave a brand new shelf.  As you can see, there were also lots of little broken strands on the hamper and on the decorative 'back splash'.   With little breaks like this we just weave in a new strand, rather that re-weave the entire basket.    The new fibers come in a pale 'natural' shade.  Since the entire hamper is not being re-woven we will need to make a custom stain color and use it to touchup the repaired areas.  

A Wicker Glazed Transformation

It has been a while since I featured anything out of our weaving department, so I thought I would rectify that now.   We had these two nice pieces come in a short time ago, and while they did not arrive looking like a set, they left in perfect complement to each other.

They both needed repairs to the wicker on the backs and arms, and they both needed new seats.  The backs and arms required hand weaving repairs, while the seats used the application of a machine woven panel.

In addition to the wicker repairs, they also needed to be stripped.  The rocking chair had an old, worn out finish that was removed, while the bench had a bright green paint.  Bright green is definitely an interesting decorating choice, but not to our current customer's taste.

Instead she had us apply to the bare wicker a 'basil' colored milk paint.  You can see the result of this color in both of the 'before & mid' pictures.  It gives the pieces a soft milky green hue.  Milk paint has no sheen however and without something to seal it, the paint is naturally dusty and prone to stains.  Prior to applying a finish to seal it, we took one extra step.  We used a dark brown dye toner over the milk paint.  This gives a very interesting, and one-of-a-kind appearance to the set which you can see below.  The chairs, while still green, have a transparent wash of brown which settles in the crevices and enhances the curves on these pieces.  Lastly, our finisher sealed the chairs with a Satin sheen finish.  The set is now ready to grace some wrap around porch somewhere, host lemonade parties and watch the sun set.

Sun Room Settee Gets a New Seat

 This lovely settee brings to mind porches in summer and sipping iced tea.  Or maybe a sun room and lemonade! Unfortunately years of sitting on it had weakened the wicker seat.  It was still together, but one by one the strands were breaking so it was only a matter of time until someone sat on it and fell through.   It was brought to us as a preventative measure, so that no guests would have to suffer the embarrassment of breaking their hostess's furniture!

 We came up with a simple solution which would not require a complete re-weaving of the seat (which would have been cost preventative and very time consuming).   Instead of re weaving,  we created a hoop in the same shape as the seat itself.  Onto this hoop supports were fastened across in key areas, and then our sturdiest cane was used to weave a grid.  This hoop was then 'sewn' to the settee's original seat frame.

In the photo below you can see the grid we wove, and the original spiral patterned wicker still underneath.   Pretty neat solution right?  The owner of the settee has a cushion which sits on top, so the grid will be hidden.  This cushion was what allowed us to add structural support to the seat, without having to follow  the original weaving style.

Do you have a unique furniture problem that you need help finding a solution to?  Bring it to us, we would love to help!