Before & After: Art Deco Armchair

We have no information on this Art Deco armchair that we recently restored, unfortunately. It was quite old and had definitely seen better days - the leather was faded & torn, the foundation of the seat had bottomed out and the wood needed a lot of work!

We completely restored & reupholstered the piece with a new foundation, nail heads, leather, and made an entirely new seat cushion, which was covered in velvet mohair as the original. We also did substantial work on the work, which is now gleaming like new again!

Before & After: Mies van de Rohe Barcelona Chairs

Looking at them straight on, these Barcelona chairs don't appear to be in horrible condition. Upon closer inspection, however, you notice the scratched and worn leather, the deflated cushions, and then there are those straps! It appears a repair was attempted at one point, but not a very good one. We were happy to get these in our workshop and glad to have the opportunity to restore them to their original condition.

Ah, much better! Ludwig would be proud. Another Barcelona restoration can be found here and here is a set of Barcelona stools that were restored.

Before & After: Hans Wegner Papa Bear Chair

Dark fabric makes it difficult to see the detail on certain pieces, but this is the original condition of a recently reupholstered iconic Papa Bear chair by Hans Wegner. The fabric was terribly worn and the interior suspension shot when it arrived at our workshop. Restoring these classic pieces is always fun and we love breathing new life into them. Here's how it turned out:

To see another Papa Bear chair we restored, click here.

Before & After: Jerry Johnson Sling Rocking Chair

This vintage sling rocking chair was designed by Jerry Johnson, circa 1964. This pieces was not in terrible condition when it arrived at our shop, but the fabric was old and worn, and it was time for an upgrade.

The lines on this rocking chair are amazing - the frame is walnut, with a contoured bentwood back that flows 'like a ribbon through air'. The sling seat is suspended, providing a hammock-like comfort. All the original hardware was intact, including the original dowels.

Our research on this piece uncovered the actual patent that Jerry Johnson filed - found here!

Before & After: Borge Mogensen 2213 Sofa

Borge Mogensen is considered to be among the great Danish furniture designers of the mid-century era. He focused on making pieces that were simple, comfortable and durable, which he hoped would make them more useful and better loved.

This model is the 2213 Sofa, which is still in production today, and was specifically designed for Mogensen's home north of Copenhagan. The home still stands today, and the original sofa is still there, placed between the two tables that dictated the dimensions of the sofa. We recently restored an original, and it's just as beautiful.

The simplicity and clean lines of the 2213 Sofa have made it one of the most recognized pieces that Mogensen designed and made, and this model is frequently seen in commercial spaces, offices and homes.

Nicely done, Mr. Mogensen.

Restored Pollock Executive Armchair

Is it possible to feel sorry for a piece of furniture? We sort of felt sorry for this well-loved Pollock Executive Armchair when it arrived at our workshop! On the one hand, it's wonderful to see pieces used so often they shred! On the other hand...please let us fix this poor boy up! And we did!

The original chair was covered in fabric, which as you can see, wears harder than leather. We completely restored and reupholstered this piece, with beautiful white leather, and cleaned up the metal until it gleamed again.

This chair is still in production and can be purchased through Knoll. It's one of the most comfortable chairs, due to the design, which cradles your body. 

Incidentally, if you're interested in more information about Pollock pieces, check out this post of ours from July 2015, with a great video on the man himself, Charles Pollock. 

Restored & Reupholstered Saarinen Executive Armchairs

The Executive Armchair by Eero Saarinen is such a classic chair. And while it tends toward the industrial and utilitarian, it is just as lovely in a private residential setting as it is in the office.

This set had certainly seen better days; you can click on the photos to see them larger, but the fabric was very faded and very worn, even torn in some areas. We stripped all the chairs down to their fiberglass shell, and started all over.

The photo above is actually a great look at the 'bones' of the chair! And, if you look carefully (feel free to click on the image to enlarge it!) you can even see the date stamp of 11-12-62!

We completely restored & reupholstered each of the chairs. The photo below shows one of our upholstery professionals, Francisco, closing the chair by hand, as we always do for these classic pieces.

The new fabric, as you can see, is a gorgeous, deep blue. With the polished metal bases, they are standout, focal pieces.

We have more restored & reupholstered Saarinen Executive Chairs here and here - take a look!

Restored Palo Alto chair

This poor chair! It had been badly reupholstered many years ago in vinyl by its' previous owner, and as you can see, the tufted back cushion did not hold up well over the years!

It's called the Palo Alto chair, and it was designed by California designer Byron Botker and produced by the Landes Manufacuring Company in the 1970's. Which makes sense, because it is pure disco era!

We brought it back to life with a complete restoration, and reupholstered it in black leather.

Our research discovered that this chair is part of the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Completely Restored Charles Pfister for Knoll dining table

Sometimes, pieces come into our workshop in such sad shape. And when they are rare pieces, such as this Charles Pfister dining table for Knoll, your heart almost breaks at the sight of the extent of the damage.

This Pfister table was badly damaged by a fire, and initially, we weren't even sure if we could save it. The top was badly burned, with deep marks, and the chrome metal inlay (on the tabletop side) was bent and scratched. We didn't want to replace the inlay because we wanted to preserve the integrity of the piece and its' history.

It's very difficult to find a Charles Pfister dining table; our research only uncovered a smaller card table - nothing of this size. The top is lacquered wood and besides the beautiful chrome inlay, it also has chrome legs.

We completely restored this piece in our workshop, no new parts were used! Here is how it turned out, what do you think?

Quite a labor of love on this one! It was worth every minute!

Restored Eames Lounge Chair in Red Leather

We wanted to share this recent restoration with you, because it's not often you see an Eames Lounge Chair in a leather other than Black or Brown! Our client loved her previous red leather, so we reupholstered it in new leather.

 The rosewood had a gorgeous grain, and restoration really brought out the character of the wood.

Restored & Reupholstered Eames 3473 Sofa

This is quite a before & after post! Can you believe our client bought this rare Eames 3473 sofa sight unseen? He had it delivered directly to our workshop and saw it for the first time when he brought in his fabric. Needless to say, it needed a complete overhaul. These are fun projects; we love transforming pieces from this, to this:

As mentioned, we completely restored and reupholstered the piece, as well as the metal. Our client chose a classic bright Maharam Hallingdal fabric, which is perfect.

The Eames 3473 sofa was only produced between 1964 and 1973, so there aren't many models. The frame is cast aluminum and the seat and angled back feature channel welts running horizontally. It's quite a bit different from the Eames Compact sofa, which is still in production through Herman Miller.