In honor of the first day of Fall, I rummaged through some of the moving boxes upstairs and found the Japanese lanterns, which I have saved for several years. They have gradually been losing a few lanterns and fading--this may be their last year. I saw the blue-green glass bottle at the thrift store and thought it would make a perfect vase.
The house is moving along well and it now has all its exterior and interior walls. It's so satisfying to see the three-dimensional as opposed to a plan on paper. Now we have a much better sense of the space and have made some changes as we realize certain ideas just aren't going to work as we thought.
This is an old pocket door we found on Craigslist--it's quite large and requires at least two men to move it. I have been scraping, sanding, and scrubbing this side, and I just finished painting it today. When I can get someone to flip it around, I will get started on sanding the other side, which I think I will just sand and wax as there is no paint on it. It will hang barn-door-style in our hallway.
The Eastlake chair is progressing slowly; I realized that the old burlap, springs, and stuffing had to go, so I removed it all, patched the wood as best I could, and am ready to start rebuilding. I'm following the instructions in my old Popular Science book, How to Repair, Reupholster, and Refinish Furniture
. The seat will be remade with plywood and layers of foam padding, and muslin.Happy Autumn everyone--I hope your weekend is a good one!
Deb
Happy Autumn to you as well.
ReplyDeleteYour home is coming along nicely.
God bless.
Thank you Jackie!
DeleteHow exciting to watch your home being built! A friend gave me a Japanese Lantern plant a number of years ago. Every year it grows lanterns but they stay green, they have never turned orange!
ReplyDeleteMy mom grew these Japanese lanterns--I tried to grow some seeds she gave me and never had any luck! No idea why yours wouldn't turn orange...I'll have to ask my mom about that.
DeleteDeb
Happy Autumn! How wonderful to see your future new home being built from ground up. I can't wait to see the chair all done, and the pocket door in place!
ReplyDeleteBTW...I love Japanese Lanterns and wish I had a plant in my garden! I think it's such a beautiful plant!
Hi Deb. I'm now doubting my decision when reupholstering an old chair like yours to keep the springs. I thought that the extra padding I put on top of the springs would make it comfier but after sitting on it for a while I can feel the springs. So I may have to do what you've decided to and replace it with ply and get rid of the springs and just add foam padding...yours is looking great though :)
ReplyDeleteHello Lilian, no, no don't get rid of the springs! You've done the hard part - tying the springs in with laid cord under tension to make all the springs work as a unit! Did you use the original coil springs or new coil ones? What did you do next? If you are repairing a similar chair I would only use traditional methods ie tacks, which should be different sizes as you progress through the layers using 'fine' for the final topcover... not staples and ideally horsehair or coir for the fillings and tack rolls ... NO foam! The second to last of the top layers - before the final top cover of chosen fabric - is a really thick cotton substance we call 'porrridge' which then has an interliner, which comes in various thicknesses , the purpose of this is to give the top decorative cover a really smooth surface. The final result should be a a chair, with proper, traditional upholstery that will lastfor years - it should be smooth and domed. The edges should have either gimp attached with fine gimp pins or actual upholstery nails, which are domed or decorative in some way - not tacks! I hope that helps - don't give up on the springs! Let me know if I can help you with any more information.
DeleteHi Lilian, thank you for following along on my Eastlake chair reupholstering! Years ago I worked on a chair and re-tied all the springs with my dear husbands help. I added new padding and upholstery and it has been very comfortable for many years--perhaps your chair just needed a little more padding over the springs? I'm afraid I'm no expert by any means; I wish I could be of more help...kindly, Deb
DeleteLooks like your new home should be nice and sunny with all those windows. Can't wait to see how it all turns out! Love your door. Like it when reclaimed building materials are used. We have a lot of Japanese lanterns but some kind of bug at all of their leaves. Not the prettiest thing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jane! I was quite adamant about having large windows--I love taking advantage of the sunlight, especially here in western NY where it is so cloudy a lot of the time...Deb
DeleteHappy Autumn to you also - my favourite season! How lovely it must be to see your house growing before your very eyes - soon to be a home. You must feel most blessed.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful chair - you say you are going to put ply on for the Base instead of springs, I personally think that it is a shame not to re--upholster it using traditional upholstery methods... Having followed your blog for years and seeing all the amazing things you have done, I'm sure you have the skills for it and the two methods are miles apart.
God bless you.
I am sorry to disappoint--I'm sure that my Eastlake chair is deserving of more traditional upholstery methods. Maybe someday I can do a better job, but right now there are much higher priorities on my list. I need to get the chair finished and will have to settle for 'good enough' for now. I do understand your zeal for doing it the 'right' way and appreciate your comment--thank you for visiting, Deb
DeleteHow wonderful to see the house progress Deb! Your upholstery skills always amaze me, not everyone who is good at sewing can transfer the talent to this.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rose--you are very kind! Deb
DeleteStill waiting for the least little sign of Autumn here in South Texas. Actually, if we could just get the temperatures to dip below 90 that would be nice :) This is the only time of year I really miss living in NY so thank you so much for sharing a bit of the season!
ReplyDeleteThank you Linda--I'm always so glad you stop by to leave me a note...Deb
DeleteHappy Autumn to you! My favorite time of year. I love your door! I have a strong love for old doors and windows - and I'm really drawn to the one you have!
ReplyDeleteLinda in VA
Linda, thank you! Hope you'll come back to see the door in place...Deb
ReplyDeleteYou keep so busywith interesting projects.
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to your posts.
I'm so glad your house is coming along well. It will be so good to get in, get settled and make it yours.
ReplyDeleteBlessings from Harvest Lane Cottage,
Laura