Repairing chairs

[Feltwell]

I am on the look out for a nice single or pair of hall chairs for my non-exisitant footman to sit on...I saw a very nice single one here:
...saw how the seat had been treated: drilled through, screwed and plugged.

That chair is rather different from Feltwell's description of his own, though, Nigel. "Plain and utilitarian" he called them.

Yes, the one in Nigel's picture is totally different. Mine may possibly have graced the kitchen of the house Nigel's chair was once in, for the servants to sit on - on the rare occasions they were permitted to sit, of course.

A shame that chair has been repaired in that way though. If you like it Nigel, could you not disguise those plugs rather better than they are now? They'll never be invisible but could be made less noticeable I reckon.

 

[biffvernon]

On the question of whether to use a modern glue or a traditional the decision might be influenced by the historic value of the piece. If it's an antique whose value you want to preserve make sure you only use the old, soluble glues. If it isn't and you just want to make sure it never ever comes apart again go for cascamite or some such.

 

[CliffordPope]

Chair doctor is excellent but needlessly expensive. It is only diluted PVA.

The weak point is the needles. It is vital to clean out the needle meticulously after use by soaking in water, and sucking or blowing to wash out every trace of glue.

I think the needles are pointlessly fine, and so vulnerable to blocking. Use a thicker pipe, eg copper capiliary from a defunct fridge thermostat, and just drill an unobtrusive hole.

It often works simply to drill something like an 1/8" hole and then use the plastic nozzle on a small glue pot to force glue in under pressure. When you realise all it is, there is nothing magic about Chair Doctor.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Have just discovered that Butlers' chairs should be pegged and dowelled, they were-- originally.

 

[Nigel Watts]

I like these. With the impending bill for my chimney rebuilding I am not sure I should though.

 

[Penners]

Designed for looking at rather than sitting on, I suspect! Very handsome. But I can't decide what the main structural wood is - would it be elm? It has quite a strong figure.

 

[Nigel Watts]

The catalogue says oak but I agree they are quite elm-like.

 

[Penners]

Thus illustrating my unerring ability to get hardwood identification wrong!

 

[JoceAndChris]

I think they're lovely chairs Nigel. I far prefer them to the more, um, toilet-seat shape you see in hall chairs. I also saw these in Claire Langley antiques Stamford and thought of you, although they're simpler and perhaps less expressive than yours above.

Very excited as my Sheraton Revival dining chairs will be travelling up from Devon this week. If anyone spots a Sheraton Revival dining table to seat 6, with the same kind of delicacy, do let me know. Sadly we can't run to real Sheraton.

 

[JoceAndChris]

And just for fun, two of these Gothick armchairs are also in the shop mentioned above, and they'd be so so perfect if one could create a Strawberry Hill style library in one's small country house. Do please also take note of the period hand and shoe behind, which belong to Mr G Hughes.

 

[Penners]

The hand and shoe look so appropriately Gothic that they seem to blend into the surroundings perfectly.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Joce - I love the chairs. What I really need though (rather than want) is a small Georgian or Regency sofa, life this one, which was not as expensive as I would have expected. I spotted it on the net too late to put in an offer unfortunatly:

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/...derimages/d55343/d5534396&IntObjectID=5534396

A sofa table or smallish writing/work table is also on my wish list. I love this one, which also had slightly gothic overtones:

http://www.bonhams.com/eur/auction/19957/lot/260/

but I cant really justify the expense.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, I do know how you feel with the wish list. Mine is currently a dining table, two single beds, a campaign chest, and an average year's salary on rugs and curtainry... and that's without even touching the kitchens and bathroom. Then again it's nice to wait and get things you really love.

Whilst the antiques you link to are undoubtedly of the finest quality I find them both just a little too leg focused. The central legs in the sofa seem a bit superfluous, and the writing table a little unbalanced with its chunky bottom. But I'm perhaps wrong.

 

[Nigel Watts]

The central legs in the sofa seem a bit superfluous,

I suspect they are needed because the ones at the end are so thin. I need a relatively short sofa that doesn't block access of one end of my relatively narrow drawing room from the other. This would have been the perfect size.

its chunky bottom

I can see what you mean, but late Georgian/early Victorian pieces are often like this, eg:

http://www.bonhams.com/eur/auction/19957/lot/256/

which I don't like, or

http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/publ...ailsNoFlash&iSaleNo=19957&iSaleItemNo=5178555

which I do like, but havn't got the money or an elegant enough house for.

My recent decorative schemes have tended towards the heavy late Georgian/early Victorian style and I am finding my taste increasing drawn in this direction and away from the more understated late 18th century. The sign of a jaded palette perhaps?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh no, you never seem jaded with stylistic ideas Nigel, quite the opposite! It's natural that having invested so much time on our properties we become very drawn to and interested in the decorative style of the period in which they were constructed; I read all sorts of statements on this forum about what people do and don't like and I tend to think it's mainly due to the focus naturally being on their own specific period. For example, I'm not particularly interested in exposed timbers and find Lavenham a lot less interesting than Stamford, but if I owned a timber framed house I daresay I'd feel differently. Then again, we buy the properties in the first place being drawn to that era's mode of decorative expression, architecture and style so perhaps there really are fixed points in our nature that prefer simple mouldings over ornate ones, restraint over stylistic flamboyance, plain timbers over floriferous plaster work. But I'm now convinced that the late 18th C represents a peak of the highest artistic taste, the best architecture, furniture and interior decorating that we have achieved thus far, as there's such delicacy of design, such knowledge of proportion and symmetry that are so satisfying to the eye, and such whimsical influences of other countries and styles interpreted in fascinating and entertaining ways. I also like the 1820s and 1830s styles very much (the leopard legs in your second piece are glorious) but when the Victorians really get going I think taste often goes out the window. Visiting the British galleries of the VnA recently I was struck by how much later 19th C decoration appears so very puddingy, overdone, and stuck on just because they could.

Having said that I'm much happier in a late Victorian interior than a modern one, which seems so very stark, empty and cold by comparison.

 

[Feltwell]

I think everyone's different Joce. You don't have to be attached to a particular period. My tastes tend to be very much towards the plain & simple rather than the ornate, but the glaring contradiction there is that I love Victorian architecture, complete with all it's fussy details. The majority of Victorian interiors - in terms of furniture and decoration rather than architectural detail - I'm not so keen on, so I pick and choose the bits I like and add bits in that are subconsciously borrowed from other periods (or should I say Mrs F does!). Likewise modern buildings - most leave me cold, but every now & then I'll see one on the likes of Grand Designs that I really like.

I do believe there are no rights or wrongs, just opinions. I agree with you that a great deal of "bad" taste emerged during the Victorian period, but at the same time "bad" taste from previous periods declined.

And who is to define "bad" taste? Just look at those girls who seek to emulate Katie Price, they obviously don't think it's bad taste. OK, maybe don't look at them :wink:

 

[Penners]

De gustibus (et coloribus) non est disputandum

...as I'm so fond of observing (somewhat pretentiously).

 

[Feltwell]

To which one could add, equally pretentiously:-

suum cuique

 

[LadyArowana]

To which one could add, equally pretentiously:-

suum cuique

Are they the troupe that did the fabulous show at the Albert Hall a few years back? I can totally understand why they would need their chairs repaired to the highest standard....

 

[Flyfisher]

:lol: :lol:
That's them. Saw them ages ago in America, but was scared off by the ticket prices for their RAH tour. Must be getting stingy in my old age.