Eames Chair Project
by
by
mapleleaf
A long time ago, I saw a chair and I was in love with it!... months went by and one day I found a cheap chair for sale on craigslist. It was a stretch from the original one, this one had seen better days but it had one thing going for it.. Price!!
Well, I enlisted my beau and contacted the seller to make arrangements for pick up. The seller informed me that she was moving out of state and was having a garage sale the next morning. She would try to hold it for me but there was no guarantee that someone else in her household would sell it to someone else. I was so close to finally getting a chair like the one I always wanted, specially one that worked for my budget.
Next morning, I got up and hit the road with directions on hand to the opposite side of town and determined to find this elusive chair. We got there and almost lost all hope, there were tons of cars parked in the vicinity. For a second I wanted to turn around and hit the road, but I was scanning through the piles of things for sale and looking for the contact person I had spoken to on the phone. Then she appeared and told us the chair was supposed to be there, around, somewhere, let me ask somebody she said. I was thinking OMG. there is no chair, she probably sold it. Suddenly she appeared with the stool and asked us to follow her to get the chair. Awesome!!!
That is how I got to buy the Plycraft Chair below. Now, about the reconstruction project, that was a good one on the books.
I had read about the Eames chair repair and upholstery from forums and blogs. So, after months of contemplating the project at hand we decided to embark on the task and finally do it..
We both decided on cowhide material, we played with the idea of using suede or leather but we wanted something totally different from what it was there before, which was synthetic leather/vinyl like material that had started to disintegrate due to aging.
One of the principal and bothersome problems was the fact that the back seat was not properly secured and the bar was not straight. It always made us feel like we were leaning towards one side more than the other. Also, the cushions had buttons that had gone missing prior to us getting the chair, so we were faced with the possibility of getting or making new buttons.
We were sure that some components, nits and bolts would need to be replaced, specially since some had already fallen apart. We were always careful to keep whatever kept falling and at the end we had to replace at least half of the screws and bolts.
We took it apart and then went to the supply store to get the bolts, screws,etc.
Day #1 Sanding the pieces, back, head,seat,stool, and 2 arm rest.
Day #2 Applying stain on the wood pieces then Poly
Day #3 Cutting the cowhide material and attaching it, apply buttons.
Well, I enlisted my beau and contacted the seller to make arrangements for pick up. The seller informed me that she was moving out of state and was having a garage sale the next morning. She would try to hold it for me but there was no guarantee that someone else in her household would sell it to someone else. I was so close to finally getting a chair like the one I always wanted, specially one that worked for my budget.
Next morning, I got up and hit the road with directions on hand to the opposite side of town and determined to find this elusive chair. We got there and almost lost all hope, there were tons of cars parked in the vicinity. For a second I wanted to turn around and hit the road, but I was scanning through the piles of things for sale and looking for the contact person I had spoken to on the phone. Then she appeared and told us the chair was supposed to be there, around, somewhere, let me ask somebody she said. I was thinking OMG. there is no chair, she probably sold it. Suddenly she appeared with the stool and asked us to follow her to get the chair. Awesome!!!
That is how I got to buy the Plycraft Chair below. Now, about the reconstruction project, that was a good one on the books.
I had read about the Eames chair repair and upholstery from forums and blogs. So, after months of contemplating the project at hand we decided to embark on the task and finally do it..
We both decided on cowhide material, we played with the idea of using suede or leather but we wanted something totally different from what it was there before, which was synthetic leather/vinyl like material that had started to disintegrate due to aging.
One of the principal and bothersome problems was the fact that the back seat was not properly secured and the bar was not straight. It always made us feel like we were leaning towards one side more than the other. Also, the cushions had buttons that had gone missing prior to us getting the chair, so we were faced with the possibility of getting or making new buttons.
We were sure that some components, nits and bolts would need to be replaced, specially since some had already fallen apart. We were always careful to keep whatever kept falling and at the end we had to replace at least half of the screws and bolts.
We took it apart and then went to the supply store to get the bolts, screws,etc.
Day #1 Sanding the pieces, back, head,seat,stool, and 2 arm rest.
Day #2 Applying stain on the wood pieces then Poly
Day #3 Cutting the cowhide material and attaching it, apply buttons.
