Furniture Restoration #14: Settee Finished and into the Homestretch

Well, it’s been a long journey so far. The chairs turned out okay but I knew the Settee would be harder. I wasn’t wrong.

Never say never, right? So, let’s just say that this learning experience has taught me that I don’t want to do this again anytime soon. Sooooo labor intensive!

I noted finishing half of the back rest earlier. So picking up where I left off . . . click the pics for larger views.

You can see the “deflated” upholstery on the other side. Thank goodness I had layout lines from someone earlier that knew what he/she was doing and the previous pieces to use as patterns or I don’t think I could have even come close to figuring it out.

Backview – little wads of cotton batting keep the tread on the upholstery buttons from pullng through – the upholstery is the visible layer in the previous pics, of course. The ubttons, cotton batting and taut upholstery fabric (but not too taut!) tacked top and bottom gives the shape and the burlap is the backer. In other words, the cotton batting goes between the uphostery and the burlap in this view. I replaced the seat rails in previous posts, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the wood was ideal. Dry and brittle wood often separated from the rest of the frame upon driving a tack and had to be reglued.

After much fussing . . . . . stuffed.

Upholstery fabric from the seat and from the back rest converge and are tacked to the top of the back seat frame so, rolls to ease the edge between the fabric and the frame are added last and are visible. Now, more stuffing above the rolls and burlap covers the back.

And a thin layer of cotton batting covers the burlap.

Upholstery covers the cotton batting and a decorative flat braided cord called “gimp” is hotglued and tacked with small round head brass tacks to hide the upholstery nails.

The best I can do. You may have noticed that it was day-light earlier – started mid-morning. It’s dark thirty when I finsih. I did the arms last because I was constantly flipping and turning it around. I figured I would rip or soil the arm rest fabric otherwise.

Applied a light coat of tung oil to the wood. Because of the dry and brttle nature of everything but the seat frame, it’s still not what I would call “solid.” I hope these pieces sit in a formal living room and see little use or I may be seeing this piece again. And I don’t want to see it again!

The last piece – a footstool. You may be able to see the crack that needs to be glued. And then, I need to refinish the wood to match the other pieces. Hopefully, it’s a straight forward deal. But no predictions of a swift and easy home stretch.

-- Paul, Texas