Upholstering an antique reproduction chair


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Old 01-14-20, 11:43 AM
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Upholstering an antique reproduction chair

My brother made my son this chair frame with the idea that I would upholster it for him. I have a little experience (a few simple chairs) but have never done this from scratch. Should I go the webbing, springs, etc. route or should I just put foam on it or what? I am ready to learn what ever I need to do, and take the time to do it right, but want to make sure I am not being overly crazy by doing it the old way. I am attaching a picture of the frame, as well as the picture of a similar chair covered that my brother sent along.
 
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Old 01-14-20, 02:54 PM
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By the time you add a flat sheet across the seat for foam you'll have to use pretty thin foam. That would be OK if you just want it mainly for looks and not so much for sitting. You could go thicker on the foam but then the seat will be pretty high (thick) on the pretty, curvy arm supports. I think it calls for webbing & batting if you want to keep the chair's proportions proper.
 
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Old 01-15-20, 05:15 AM
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Thanks for responding! I hadn't thought about that. You are right, it wouldn't look as good to raise it up to high along the arm. When you say webbing and batting, you mean with springs, right? The picture of the upholstered chair that he sent looks very boxy in the seat. If I used springs, I might be able to curve it down some toward the side keeping it at a little lower height at the arm. Do you think that would look odd?
 
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Old 01-15-20, 10:47 AM
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I would just do webbing for simplicity. It wouldn't be terribly comfortable but it would be easy. To do it properly you would need springs... which you don't have. Serpentine springs would be the easiest but coil springs would give you that olde timey cushy ride.



 
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