Week 1 of the “Simple Upholstery” course I’m taking at The Makehouse can be summarized by the following word: ICK!!!!!!!!

Not because of the course itself – oh no, so far it’s great fun.

But when you discover what kind of crusties are hiding beneath the cushion of an old chair, you may find yourself gagging, wincing and/or screaming.

Let me back up.

My project is to re-upholster these four dining room chairs. Two were given to me by my dad’s girlfriend and another matching pair were found at a garage sale. I also plan on refinishing them so that I’ll have a (mostly) matching set.

When I was in the UK in January I picked up this strawberry fabric from Cath Kidstonspecifically for this project (this exact pattern doesn’t seem to be available online but I absolutely love this and this too!). I know, I know – it’s white. Not exactly the best colour for what will essentially be an ass landing mat, but I will not be swayed! I figure I can always redo them once I learn the skills.

When I arrived, The Makehouse was bustling with activity, and three chairs were on the verge of going into surgery. Here they are with their respective surgeons:

Instructor Miro started by going around and giving us all an individual diagnosis. Some of us (me) have the unfortunate task of having to glue together some unstable aspects of our chairs between this week and next.

The universal first step, however, was peeling back the skin and seeing what gore lay beneath our seats. It was fascinating to see how much variation there was. This was the oldest chair in the course and it contained springs as well was horse hair.

Others found organic material (Miro said this stuff was similar to seaweed).

This disgusting foam looks more like a chunk of cinder toffee than anything.

Everyone had to painstakingly remove the tacks and/or staples that held the yucky old upholstery together.

Mine was by far the crappiest chair in the room and it took me a while to get over the profound chair envy. I have concocted a master plan to somehow acquire a better chair before the course is finished but for now I do need to get these chairs functioning.

Beneath the first layer of fabric was a 1960s-era fabric that had seen better days. My dad’s girlfriend had warned me about this – I bet she’s laughing now.

As I began lifting the tacks, a gross wave of crud started seeping out from beneath the fabric. I’m still not sure if it was dirt or disintegrated foam, and I’m not sure if I want to know!

Here’s the completed dissection – that’ll make you think twice about NOT recovering antique chairs.

Into the garbage it went, all of it.

My chairs have  a plywood base, but those who had webbing tightened it up.

Everybody’s foam was toast – Miro is ordering up a slab of brand new foam and we’ll be diving into that next week. In the meantime, I’m looking at all chairs with suspicion.

If you live in Victoria and think you’d like to take this upholstery class, there’s one starting in April.

Reusing and honouring perfectly good furniture is a huge principle ’round here at The Life Nostalgic. There are so many reasons why:a) The planet has too much poorly-made crap for sale these days – why buy new if it already exists?b) Fixing up something yourself helps hone your self-sufficiency skills (you’ll be well on your way to invincibility).c) Reusing enables you to save money and use it for more worthwhile things (like freedom).So, starting on Monday, I’m taking a four-week course called “Simple Upholstery” at The Makehouse, and I’m going to be blogging about my progress here on a weekly basis so you can see how it’s going (and count how many upholstery tacks I’ve managed to hammer into my thumb).To start, I paid a visit to the instructor, Miro, at his home studio.

Miro’s Short Biography

Originally from Léon in Spain, Miro came to Victoria at the tender age of 17 to romance the ladies (“people thought I was a gigolo”) and pursue a career in upholstery. He worked for Standard Furniture, The Empress Hotel (where he was head upholsterer) and Eatons before establishing his home studio. Just from my short chat with him, I could tell that Miro is severely allergic to shoddy upholstery jobs.

Why re-upholster?

“Some people look at this chair and think: ‘that’s a piece of shit.’ UM, EXCUSE ME?! It’s hand carved and will last hundreds of years.”

The Course

“I don’t want to see anybody going bigger than this chair,” Miro says. “If you start too big, you will run into problems.”

He suggests starting your upholstery education with a dining chair, small stool or pillows. Sometimes people end up getting disappointed and frustrated when they find out they can’t work on a big puffy armchair in a course – the kind of work that would take an expert like Miro a whole week and cost around $1000!

“Being an upholsterer is like being an artist, it’s a very creative thing.”

If you need to refinish your project, you have to do it BEFORE the upholstery portion. (Guess what I’m doing this weekend?)

The Tools

To upholster properly, you’d need all of these tools.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – there’s no way I am personally investing that much when I don’t even know if this might be my last as well as my first upholstery experience.

Miro says you can cheat and start off with a hammer, scissors, flat screwdriver and pliers. The only thing that might be a hassle is finding upholstery tacks – short/thin regular nails can be substituted.

The Fabric

“Buy good quality fabric that’s going to last,” Miro says.

You always have the option of using Scotchgard on the finished product as well.

Join us!

If you can’t make it this time, there is also an April course.

Special thanks to Reb Stevenson from THE LIFE NOSTALGIC for her coverage of our new upholstery course!