Oh My! What Have I Started!!

I mentioned in my DIY project post that I had two small projects, the frames, and one bigger project, the can of worms. Well, I decided I could freshen up an antique rocker in my living room. Eventually, if I ever get to do my living room I would like four matching chairs with a large table in the middle. This room was called the quiet room when my boys were growing up. It was used for reading and playing the piano. My lady friends and I sit in there and have had great conversations. Back to the rocking chair. I sat in this chair and rocked each one of my Grandbabies and we have read books in that chair. I checked on having it re-done, but it would cost more than the chair was actually worth. It looked like a simple job, NOT!! Here is the chair………..

You can see it is mahogany and it is a simple upholstery job. There are  springs in the bottom and one had broken through the bottom, time to do something about this.

Hubby and I flipped the chair over and took a peek inside to find old springs and webbing that was coming loose. We proceeded to replace the webbing and sew each spring to the new webbing. I will not even bore you with these details but let me say three trips to the store and two days later, the chair has new insides.

We proceeded to strip the fabric and stuffing. Inside we found old cotton batting and even horse hair, so we know this chair is really an old rocker. We proceeded to paint the chair in a gloss white to freshen it up ala Brocade style………….

How do you like my work bench? It actually worked quite well. You can see the old burlap backing and the cotton wadding. They had taken an old piece of fabric to cover the springs. It still had a covered button attached to it, which I thought was kind of funny. There were three different fabrics on this chair. The gold damask that you saw and a soft pink embossed fabric that looked like it was from the forties, and than a tiny floral print on black, I bet it looked really pretty in that fabric. Here are a few more pictures of what was inside……………..

There were a bazillon tacks and staples to be taken out of the rocker, borrrrrring!

You can see just a bit of the pink fabric and below is a bit of the small floral print.

You must understand, Hubby and I do not know what we are doing at all on this chair. At this point we are both wondering what the heck have we done!! Now on to the fun part, choosing the fabric!!! To be continued……..

“ Enjoy the Process” Of: Taking apart an older piece to try and make it new and fresh!

Kathysue