Number 10 Upholstery » Tales from the workshop

Red chair story

Chris Goodwin — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 12:39:52 +0000

The pretty Victorian iron back armchair covered with the Emily Burningham red linen fabric has now been finished and is being enjoyed by the clients. I’m hoping their cheeky border terriers aren’t enjoying it though! We were really pleased with how this chair turned out with the contrast duck egg blue silk buttons and piping.

We really loved rebuilding and reupholstering this chair and cannot wait to get some more commissions like this.

Dave has been busy too with four chairs which he re-rushed. When he gets back from his latest break in France I’ll upload some pictures – but not of him in his Mankini… I only wish I was joking… Hopefully he’ll bring back something nice for myself and Cally otherwise we may just have to share the photo evidence!

Spot the difference

Chris Goodwin — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 12:34:24 +0000

We’ve all been busy in the workshop this month and one of the transformations has been this Georgian style armchair which was previously upholstered in a plain blue fabric but now has been covered in a rather funky Abraham Moon multi coloured wool. The material is the grey multi spot from the Dales Collection but reversed which makes the chair look rather fun, although all those lines and stripes certainly gave us a headache!

It’s not the only chair that is getting the spotty treatment as another client likes this fabric and has chosen to use the same material on their chair.

An update on the Victorian iron back with buttons

Chris Goodwin — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 12:27:16 +0000

The Victorian Iron back armchair that was featured in a previous post is coming along nicely. The top fabric is an Emily Burningham linen and the buttons are covered in a contrast duck egg blue silk. Although the fabric is rather delicate for an upholstery covering, the chair is for occasional use which will be fine. It’s such a pretty linen that I fear the client may have to prise this chair from our hands!

We’ll definitely be using this again on other items.

Spot the difference

Chris Goodwin — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 12:23:36 +0000

Usually when we reupholster an item, the change is there for all to see. Existing fabric is sometimes tired and out of date and it’s rewarding to rejuvenate and modernise a lovely item. One of our clients provides holiday rentals and we supply our services for their antique furnishings, which we’re really pleased about! The trouble is that the items are reupholstered in a similar colour so they fit in with the existing room schemes.

We try our best to make a difference but sometimes we dream of glass buttons, amazing trim and fantastic florals.

Auction misery – both online and in real life

Chris Goodwin — Sat, 18 Jan 2014 12:13:32 +0000

This week I have been on the look out for a sofa to go in my own house. I’ve just had a lovely new oak floor installed and desperately wanted to get rid of the existing settees, which were purchased before my love for all things old kicked in! I had my eye on one on eBay which wasn’t too far away but in the end went for over £400. This was quite an eye opener as with real life auctions, chesterfields and the like, tend to go for under £100 due to the size of them.

However, on my first local auctions of the year, everything that I’d put a “star” next to, went for lots of money. “Lots of Money” = anything over £100.

Now this started worrying me as maybe I’d have to revise all my price banding for this year and with more and more people appreciating well made furniture, the quantity of these items may be getting less and less. The crazy thing about my price branding and even the eye popping ebay sofa is that in the scheme of things, £400-500 isn’t a huge amount to spend on an antique handmade sofa!

So at the end of this week I was looking forward to bidding on this sofa:-

I was all ready until I realised I had got my days wrong and instead of the auction being on Thursday it was in fact on Friday. Unfortunately I had already got appointments all day so I couldn’t make it but part of me was thinking that it’ll probably go for lots of money so it wouldn’t matter. Imagine my annoyed face when I found it had sold for £20…..Arghhh

Victorian iron back

Chris Goodwin — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 12:08:49 +0000

The past few weeks have been spent on a Victorian Iron frame armchair. This is one of the most difficult chairs to upholster due to the amount of hand stitching required. Many people think they’re getting a bargain from an auction but almost get offended when they find out how much it costs to completely strip back and reupholster.

In the picture we are working on attaching the calico over the arms and making sure the button position will hold the material in place. This is definitely not a rush job!

Loose covers on tub chairs

Chris Goodwin — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 12:00:33 +0000

What ever you do dont do them! After weeks of calico templates we managed to persuade the client to let us re-upholster them. The trouble with loose covers are they are completely loose and do not sit comfortably (no pun intended!) with the upholsterers need for tight lines and taut fabric.

Meet the team!

Chris Goodwin — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 11:56:20 +0000

This is Cally, trying not to sneeze from the dust as she strips a lovely iron framed button back antique chair. Note the springs attached to the front of the frame.

This type of chair is one of the most labour intensive items to work on due to the amount of hand stitching involved.

This is Kay, filling the holes in another antique button back chair with a pva glue and sawdust mixture.

Our first casualty

Chris Goodwin — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 11:51:51 +0000

Following the long summer holidays, myself and Cally returned to the workshop to start work on the many items that need our attention. First on the “to do” list was to get the chair I picked up from my friend in Somerset into the workshop.

Now this is no mean feat as our workshop is based in the eaves of a farm building and any bulky items get lifted up to us via the forklift. Unfortunately on its journey upwards, one of the front legs got hit. Whilst it was annoying, it did bring to light a severe woodworm problem. The chair has now been put in quarentine and doused with a good soaking of cuprinol.