French Settee Upholstery Tutorial

I want to state right up front, that I am NOT an expert.  This is the first piece of upholstery that I have done other than the basic chair seat redo.

That being said...I promised a tutorial of how I painted and reupholstered my French Settee.

After Pic

When I bought this piece it looked like this.

First I carefully removed the braided gimp taking pictures along the way, so when I added new gimp, I would know how to glue it on.

It actually came off pretty easy, because it was just glued on.  I was thinking how easy this was going to be!

So I grabbed a few tools .....

Decided that it would be easiest to remove the fabric with a utility knife - to keep the pattern in tact, before removing the stables.  This was pretty easy too!  Just make sure you keep all of the original gimp and fabric so you have a pattern to work from.  And take LOTS of pictures along the way so you have something to refer back to.

Then I saw the bazillion staples....not just one row, but two or three.

  All. The. Way. Around. The Chair.

OK that was pretty ugly....for some pretty.....here is an inspiration piece I saw at a wonderful store in Greenville, SC called, Postcards From Paris

I tried using a screw driver, hammer and wrench to remove the staples, but that didn't work.  So I Googled and found a upholstery staple remover and ordered it.  Two weeks later it arrived.  Here it is on the left.  On the right is my favorite hammer.  It actually used to be my Dad's.  He was left handed and so am I.  When I hold it, I can actually feel where he held it for years.

The staple remover helped a lot.  It was still hard, but it did help.  After removing all of the staples, I discovered that the foam under the seat had disintegrated and had to be replaced.

After replacing the foam, I painted it French Linen which is a wonderful gray color.  After the gray dried, I dry brushed Old White sparingly on top.  The final color was a little bit of Rub and Buff in gold to highlight some of the features.

Come back in a few days, and I will show you how I upholstered it.

Welcome Home,

Penny