Victorian Chaise Longue

A Victorian chaise longue reupholstered in Sanderson cerise velvet.

I reckon velvet is right for a chaise longue, it's regal enough and French enough. Napoleon is purported to have said "a throne is only a bench covered in velvet" and this velvet covered bench would have been ideal for him - the base is 5' 7", exactly his height.

And bright pink would suit Napoleon fine, don't you think?

I bet Napoleon loved pink. My customer did anyway.

This was a commission.

Bus Stop Chair at Y Groes, Powys.

An ugly but comfortable chair now available to bus travellers on the A483 at Y Groes, Powys.

This chair came free with a bunk bed I bought for my daughter. Although sturdy it has no aesthetic qualities of any description. So to celebrate this odious 1990's greasy-pine farmhouse pastiche I used a horrible jungle-print velvet stripped from a customer's sofa, cheapo brass nails...

...and a really horrible plastic spider on the leg.

And why not?

1920's bergere suite in Bute wool

A 1920's bergere suite with double-sided canework now reupholstered in Bute tweed.

This is a high quality suite was manufactured by Beresford and Hicks of Curtain Rd, London, in the heart of what was then the 'upholstery district' in East London. The space is now occupied by SCP no less.

This had been kept in a barn for the last year or so - getting the spider's webs and mould out from between the canework took some time. The back cushions are fixed in a way I've never seen before so reupholstery took some working out, but the customer wanted the backs to keep their 'feather look' so they're made with rubberised hair and cotton wadding for a puffed-up look.

Nice arm detail.

This was a commission.

Kids car seat in Eleanor Pritchard wool

With an offcut from this project I made my daughter a very fashionable cover for her car booster seat.

She is WELL PLEASED.

Prince of Wales investiture chair

Here's my dog Lewis on a Prince of Wales investiture chair that I reupholstered for a customer. For the monarchists among you it may seem inappropriate to have a dog on the chair but unlike the Prince the dog is actually Welsh, so some might say he is well qualified to sit on it...

Designed by Lord Snowdon and used by royals and other notable attendees of The Prince Wales’s 1969 investiture ceremony at Caernarfon Castle, the investiture chair was manufactured by Remploy and was made of a vermillion stained plywood and supposedly covered in Welsh wool. This is why the customer brought it to me hoping I could source more Welsh wool for it.

To try to trace the original fabric I contacted lots of Welsh mills and other people in the know but drew a blank, no-one had any idea who produced the wool fabric. When I finally got the chair I realised it wasn't covered in wool at all, but a cotton/polyester mix with textured weave. I could find nothing suitable produced in Wales but found an ok match from Scottish manufacturer Wemyss

**UPDATE - JAN 2016 - Lots of people have contacted me since asking if I can source a fabric for these chairs so I got in touch with CADW and various other organisations including St.Fagan's and still no joy. If anyone does have a source please let me know. Until then I'm recommending Danish manufacturer Kvadrat and their Tonus fabric. It's expensive at over £100 per metre (min order 1m) but if you can bring your chair to me for reupholstery I can supply this about half price because it only needs half a metre. Hope this helps. Mick.

***UPDATE - APRIL 2016 - I now have the original fabric in stock and can supply it - see this blog post for details 

So if you have one of these and it needs reupholstering, it looks like I'm your man.

Just don't tell Charles about the dog.