Reupholstering the Marianne chair

One of my favorite pastimes is reupholstering old armchairs, and I usually give my chairs names that reflect something about them. This chair I did for my twin sister Marianne, hence the name.

As I source chairs to reupholster online, I tend to find beautiful objects in many different locations. This particular one I found close to my sister's place and she kindly picked it up for me. As we don't live anywhere near each other, it took a while before I could pick it up from her house.

When I finally got around to visiting her, I found the armchair sitting nicely in her living room, continuously being used, despite being dreadfully uncomfortable. So it was quickly decided the chair had to be returned, as soon as it was given a new suit.

Whenever I am to embark on a new object, I like to keep the chair in my kitchen for a while, so she can speak to me. Tell me her name and what new kind of dress she would like. I know it sounds a little nutty, but I find it essential. :)

Before stripping the chair, the underneath had to be fixed. The old webbing had come undone and needed to be replaced. The webbing supports the internal furniture springs - after replacing the webbing it is important to attach them to the springs so they don't start sliding about as the chair is being used.

The seat and back were in surprisingly good shape, and were in no need of any work. However, the dimensions of this chair was out of whack. I don't know whether this was because it was a handmade chair or it was how it was done at the time of manufacturing, but the seat was too long in proportion to the back. When sitting in the chair one felt like one was just about lying down, and to counter this a pillow was always needed to support your back. To fix this I added several layers of foam rubber to bring the back forward.

New padding was added, to give the chair structure and a comfortable cushion.

Picking a fabric is always difficult, even more so when I had a specific person in mind. Luckily, I found a fabric that was similar to one my sister had admired in the past, and in a colour which would work well with her other furniture.

Finally, after dressing the chair, the armrests which had been removed for sanding and re-varnishing, were re-attached, and the chair was finished.

I'm happy to say that my sister was very pleased with her new piece of furniture, and the Marianne chair is now situated happily in her new home.

Thanks for stopping by!
-lil-mich

Horizontal ruler by @cryptosharon

For more about my reupholstery, please also see:
Live Sustainably contest - don’t buy it, REPAIR IT