Having old furniture in your house is the trend these days. Truth be told, old furniture adds a classic and beautiful touch to the room. However, people lacking the best tools and the bright ideas always fail to turn an old chair, table or a wardrobe into a masterpiece. In this article, we will give some ideas that can help you restore an old chair and make it the center of your room.
Why old chairs must be in your interior
Old chairs have significances for the owners. There are certain people who only prefer one spot to sit but surely, a chair would not last for 50 or 40 years. Aside from this, old chairs or antique chairs are now a necessary apart of the interior designed on some houses and villas. An old chair in your parlor would make anything look they are exactly where they are supposed to be.
Old furniture such as Rattan or Biedermeier are priceless and timeless. Using them is the design of your interior would make it lovely place just to sit in and enjoy a good book and a cup of tea. You can always bring an era back to life with old furniture, if you either interested in 70s Hollywood vibes, contemporary or Mediterranean, Asian or European, you can simply turn all the furniture including old chairs into wonder that would go well with the overall design and style you have chosen§.
Why restore old chairs?
The reasons for restoring chairs can be different: incorporating old furniture items in new interior areas, or keep that symbolic piece of furniture one of your grandparents used to sit in when they were around. Why waste time and energy-saving old furniture when you can buy a new one for a reasonable amount? Antique furnishings have a rich history.
Many experts would gladly prefer a copy of a piece of antiquity, only one of which remains, instead of the modern product. Unfortunately, the terms of operation have their limitations. No matter how good the furniture is together, the frame will start to soften over time, and the item will be unused.
When the situation is very unfortunate and you happen to have the best tools for this purpose, you must manually recreate the chairs, clean the worn-out parts, replace them with new parts, color and cover them with protective compounds, tighten them and reinforce the structure.
Antique chairs adapt to a variety of styles: classic, Provence, modern, Biedermeier, ethnic, eclectic, retro. At the beginning of the last century, most of the furniture was made by handicrafts, that is, by hand, to complement the abundance of elegant decorative elements. The refusal to save such rare valuable specimens is at least ridiculous. Think about the different recovery methods and go with what you think is best.
Methods and types of restoration
Restore literally means returning an object to normal appearance without making any structural changes. These works are carried out by specialized restorers, who have years of training behind. They are trusted to restore rare objects such as art paints. In our case, restoring the “home” allows changes to the design of chairs, which were not previously found in the design.
The purpose of this process is to create an original interior item, not restore original furniture. For some stylistic solutions, there is only a certain method suitable, while others use a set of specialized techniques. One of the clearest examples is Provence-style furniture. The most popular recovery methods include the following technologies that can be done with the simplest and the best tools for this purpose:
- Decorate the surface with shapes. A common technique for transferring images from paper holders (postcards, napkins) to the surface of the chair, followed by a varnish fix.
- Painting. Draw original drawings and patterns on the surface prepared for the chair. You can only use ready-made stencils.
- Adhesive films, tapes. They stick directly on the chair. Its surface imitates the texture of natural materials: stone, wood, leather.
- Wood veneer. The chair is affixed with thin panels of veneer (woodcut) with original fabric.
- Lamination. This technique is similar to ornamentation with adhesive films or veneers, but the panels are not affixed with glue, but with synthetic resins, on which the backside of the decorative paper is covered.
- The lining. Decorate the surface by attaching parts to it from other materials. For wooden chairs use marble, ornamental stone, metal and porcelain.
- Painting with a “scuff” effect. Conducted in two stages. First, the surface of the chair is partially covered with a layer of dark paint. Allow it to dry. After that, coated plus wax. Now the entire product is painted in a light color. After the “dark” formula is completely dried, expose the bottom layers of the wax and paint
Of course, the list is not limited to these methods. Chairs can be decorated with old leather, fabric, small accessories, and carved items specially made for this furniture.
Required materials and tools
During the procedure, restoration masters use the best tools and special chemical installations to treat and restore the surfaces of the furniture. For ordinary people, such difficulties do not come to anything, so a novice designer may be limited to improvised means, which are often used in household chores. To reinforce construction, you will need:
- Chisel.
- Rods to replace the old legs, to which the elements of the chair are attached.
- Special carpenter glue.
To work on surface decoration you will need:
- Sanding machine or sanding paper.
- Paint or varnish.
- Technical acetone for the solution of paint.
- Oil and wax.
Minor damage repair
Small repairs require that you start looking for cracks in the wood in case you are not going to replace it. Regardless of the quality of the materials at the time of making the chair, the years still make their toll. The first “symptoms of aging” are small cracks. Over time, they will cause significant damage to the strength and reliability of the chair. Such defects are filled with a special composition (a mixture of sawdust and wood glue). The legs of the chair should be cared for the most as they ensure good stability of the furniture. If the joints are damaged, you need to make some changes so make sure you have the right and the best tools.