I picked up this amazing MCM bent molded plywood chairs with matching round table with 2 leafs. The structure of the chairs were sound but the upholstery and foam were not good. Here’s my process of trying to save them!

Sep 26, 2022 7:36 PM

itsoinky

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Original chair with wool upholstery

Chairs with dining table, 2 leafs

Upholstery is sagging, foam has disintegrated

Seat removed from frame

Backside. Notice the curved seam

Foam and adhesive residue

Backside has a thin layer of foam on upper half

Foam everywhere. Front fabric pulled from seat.

Scraped vs. wirebrush

All clean!

1/2” foam glued on

Ready for fabric

Ta-da! 1 done, 5 to go.

Backside

That set is beautiful. Good job reupholstering them (and not painting them)

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Thank you! I’m happy with how they turned out, and glad I didn’t paint them too. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Those are Knoll chairs and I have a set of six. I should very much like to know your process for removing the upholstery. Thank you!

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Hi there! Ours don’t specially say knoll on them but they seem to be very similar.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

This was my first upholstery project so I’m no expert, but I unscrewed the seat and took out all the staples with a staple remover.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I scraped off as much of the old foam (more like dust) as I could with a metal scraper.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

3) Then I used a wire brush attachment on a drill to remove the dried glue and remaining foam residue.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

4) I used the old fabric and made a pattern by laying it on a large piece of paper and outlining it. Label front, back, top and bottom.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

5) these 6 chairs needed 6 yards of fabric. I chose an outdoor textile that looks like tweed. Lay out your fabric and measure and cut.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

6) I wasn’t able to tell the thickness of the original foam, so guessed 1/2”. I used the measurements from front pattern + 1” on each side.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0