A Great Find

[Corsetière]

I thought you guys might enjoy seeing our latest find and my new big project. They weren't a Craigslist find but the pricing was so cheap it might as well have been! We scored a set of 8 (which includes 2 arm chairs). I fell in love with the amazing embossed leather, which unfortunately is terribly decayed. What I wouldn't give to get my hands on those original embossing plates! Because the upholstery was such a mess, we paid essentially the price of a plastic folding chair for each of them.
So now I have the job of reupholstering all the chairs. I've never done traditional upholstery with springs and horse hair before, but I think I am getting along pretty well. The third photo with the white covering shows the last step before I will put on the decorator fabric ( in this case, a really lovely dark red leather)







Have you guys been getting really good deals on Victorian era furniture, too? It seems like Mid Century Modern is what everyone wants right now so the Victorian and Edwardian stuff is selling so low.

Larissa

[Daniel Meyer]

Don't overlook the decorative value of the removed embossed leather...

Set in a frame they can be nice wall art!

[Corsetière]

Yes exactly, Daniel! I am picturing it in handbags and on jackets!

[melissakd]

Wonderful shopping triumph and wonderful chairs!

If the leather wouldn't hold up on chairs, would it really make durable apparel or bags? If you do succeed in restoring the leather a bit, do please continue sharing how-to's and pics!

Cadrad will know more about that furniture style, but it looks more Victorian and elaborate than the 1920s Tudor Revival type stuff. I love the half-medallions along the chair back.

I haven't bought furniture lately....but I know that certain massive Victorian pieces do sell more cheaply because they don't just fit in anyone's house

MelissaKD

[Corsetière]

Thanks, Melissa!
Oh I wouldn't use the leather in a structural way, don't worry.

I believe the chairs are Renaissance Revival and are sometimes called "French Henry II" chairs. So that would make them circa somewhere between 1850-1890. Yeah, I'd be interested if anyone else knows more about them.

[YinzerMama]

I love the idea of framing it and hanging it.

You could keep 2 for yourself, and then sell the rest on etsy and make a bunch of money LOL

[James]

Nice chairs. I would guess around 188-1890's timeframe. Jacobean revival style, I have a set of four similiar ones that go with an English oak pub table with great barley twist legs, one of the first pieces of antique furniture I ever bought back in the 1980's.

[Kansas. 1911.]

I found a super resource for leather. You would have to figure out the embossing for yourself, but the leather is fabulous.

For my upcoming birthday (60th), I wanted a facelift for my grandmother's chair. It turns out there is a store near me where I could choose from 100 colors of skins. Like a kid in a candy store, I narrowed it down to six butterscotch leathers, and finally one.

The backstory is that the leather is left over from the airplane industry and sold in big lots. The folks who know about it want some leather for their airplane seats. That's the primary market. Anyone can purchase and have it sent to them all over the US. My skin was $125 each and I used 1.5; thus, I have a half left over, saved for a hassock someday.

[circuspeanut]

hi Kansas,
Do you have a link or a name for that leather outlet you mention? Thanks!

[steponmebbbboom]

I wish I knew how to rip/burn DVDs or upload 22 minute clips to Youtube because I have a two-part episode of Furniture To Go where Ed and Joe completely restored an EastLake chair and loveseat. Their techniques would apply directly to your chairs. I would be happy to share them if someone knows how to get them off my DVD. A friend converted them from VHS and sent me a copy.