A challenging restoration

Mike Mathieu

Member
Messages
116
Location
Midlothian,Va
Hi Everyone
Here are a few photos of a restoration job I just completed.
This is a love seat that was made around 1850 that I was asked to completely restore.
High sofa 4.jpg

The owner bought new material to have it re-upholstered but first had to strip it.
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After stripping off the old fabric I discovered that the entire frame was held together with different sized cut nails and that most of the wood was either dry-rotted or so punky from previous upholstery jobs that most of the framing would have to be replaced.
Plus the owner wanted to extend the length of the seat by 4".
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There is a place here in Richmond that specializes in reclaimed lumber salvaged from old factories so I purchased 30 bf of some beautiful 100 year old pine and began the process of replicating all of the frame members. Lots of bandsaw work and head scratching involved here.
I did not want to use cut nails for the assembly so used lots of dowels and flat head slotted screws to put it all together.
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One other thing that the owner wanted was to add 3" to the height of the sofa so I made leg extensions and doweled them in place
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So after getting the blessing from the owner it was delivered to the upholsterer.
And here it is-good for another 100 years.
Finished sofa.jpg
 
Mike that is not only a great job you have done but its a fine piece of furniture. Have to say i am not wild about the fabric customer chose but the piece itself is great. Wished they made stuff like this today. Looks real comfy. :thumb::thumb:
 
Thanks everyone for the comments.
When I first saw this project My first thoughts were " Looks like a good addition to the kindling pile"!! But because of the sentimental value decided to give it my best shot.
Client couldn't have been more pleased with the outcome and have since picked up several more referred jobs because of it.
Ones man's trash is another man's treasure holds true in this case.
 
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