Friday, October 3, 2014

Reupholstering an Empire Bench with Non-Traditional Materials.

One of my favorite things to do 
is to reinvent something in a unique way.
You know, 
take a leap of faith……
And pleasantly surprise yourself!
Here's a perfect example of a piece I had to rebuild recently,  
so I took the challenge!
I purchased this old antique upholstered bench at a yard sale.
It was covered in an old raggedy gold velour…
It had a glorious wood frame with lots of detail
But boy was it a mess!
I had to take everything off….
 
I removed the springs.
(Easily made 7 times my investment on this piece by just
repurposing the springs into candle holders…added some
fabric scraps and ball candles and put in my booths.)

But I digress. 
Back to the bench.
One of the sides had a broken frame 
so I wood glued it.
Then I removed everything from the seat. 
The original stuffing, burlap, etc,
I left the upholstered sides 
because they were still in good shape..
I rebuilt the seat using scrap lumber pieces, and
painted the frame in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Cream.
 After the cream paint had dried, I dry brushed an overcoat of Paris Grey
and then I distress sanded. 
 I rebuilt the seat with layers and layers of batting.
Here you can see the frame after I added dark wax
to all the nooks and crannies…
(Sorry for the dark photo…I was working late…)
Okay, on to the finish!
I found this awesome printed canvas rug at Ross.
I decided to use this for the upholstery.
 
I stapled and trimmed the rug…
(and treated myself to an IPA…)
And instead of using traditional gimp, 
I decided to just fold up and glue the raw edges.
Then I used galvanized roofing nails 
to adorn and secure the edges.
Getting close….now to the sides…...
 I used a grey and white ticking to upholster the sides,
after adding a layer of batting.
Then I used gimp to edge.
And it's done!
It's in my booth at Greenwood Antiques & Uniques.
$249

2 comments:

  1. Awesome! Can't believe the stuff you do! My mind is still reeling from the candles in the springs -- amazing!!

    ReplyDelete