Thoughts on Chairs and their Materials

I'm taking a moment's rest on an unseasonably cool day in late May. Renovations to the barn are underway again after a few weeks' hiatus. I'm happy to share that the transition from the old house in Rochester to our farm in Centerfield is just about complete. While unpacking jars of old nails and screws, I realized that another post to the blog was due. Let's talk about the processes of antique restoration as I have some pictures of past projects from the old shop on St. Paul Street.

Hitchcock chair and footstool on display at the old store.

Chairs are common projects in any restorer's shop since they are generally subject to lots of wear over time. Like other antique furniture, wooden chairs have a wide variety of different structures, finishes and laminates -- especially upholstery, since different fabrics and prints have their own unique characteristics. All of these traits need to be taken into account before a piece goes up on the bench. Just as the case with any piece of furniture, careful consideration to the material makeup must be taken into account before a piece is cleaned, cut, painted or altered in any way. These initial considerations will help insure the value and the integrity of the piece after any reconstruction or restoration work takes place. Allow me to add -- even if you find a guide on how to restore an antique chair yourself, you should opt for the work to be done by someone with a trained eye and a practical knowledge of woodworking materials and finishes so that the piece is assured a longer life with its dignity intact.

A rococo revival chair outside the old St. Paul Street store. This piece was sold before completion -- the upholstery was cleaned, the frame was washed and some small structural reinforcements were made.

A common consideration when assessing the work to be done on an antique chair is the finish of the piece. Determining the finish of a piece -- whether shellac, varnish or lacquer -- is crucial to the restoration process since these finishes require their own seperate methods of application and removal. It is also tricky to determine what areas -- if not all -- of the chair's surface need to be treated.

Aside from the practicalities of working with the materials, I find the most facinating aspect of restoring antique chairs is the process of preserving -- or in some cases, revealing -- their historical context. Generally, it may be the case that the older the piece, the rarer the piece, but all antiques have a story and that story holds value of some sort. This footstool, by the looks of it, was circa the 18th Century. It is such a delicate piece and when it was brought into the shop, I realized it was prey to wood-boring powderpost beetles. After removing the pests, I was able to wash the wood, clean the upholstery and fix the damage in the legs. Now, if this were your antique chair or footstool, you might choose to put it on display and limit its daily use. That is  completely understandable. After all, one of the tenets of antique restoration and antique collection is the preservation of material over time in order to uphold not only an object's value but the value of history in our time.