Refinished Trunk with upholstered insets.

Very Nice Work! Thanks For Posting!

Rick

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Hey Mark,
I have a few questions. First I like it. Did you tack the upholstery directly to the panel? Did you pad the insert? What did you do at the edges? As you can tell I am not a upholsterer and have no idea of what the process is but I like the final look as it makes it really stand out. Thanks, Don

Thanks very much for the compliments.
Don, there is Plywood under the upholstery on the lid. The front insert is actually a piece of wrap wood I salvaged. I padded all the inserts with a single thickness of bonded Dacron. It’s better than using an inch of foam in my opinion because it compresses to almost nothing and I could bring it right out to the edge of my work. The decorative tacks are hammered directly into the wood. I was able to do the front and back inserts with a freehand because it was faster. When I got to the lid, i had to use some sturdy long nose pliers. I held the tacks clos to the head so I could give a few solid taps without risking the tacks bending over and gouging the oak on the sides.
Decorative tacks are about $17 for 1000. You can spend a lot more On more exotic tack heads. Upholstery suppliers to the trade will usually sell wholesale to anyone. This project took under 400 tacks.
A lot of the old heavily carved upholstered furniture used the tacks for a very high end finish. I’m sure most of you hammer wielders would have no problems with the tack hammer. Something helpful is that might be able to correct up to an eighth inch mistake by taping sideways. Naturally you want to practice. And you want to make as few adjustments as possible. Thanks for asking!

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