Beautiful Antique Eastlake Rocker

Antique Eastlake Rocker



Before

 I found this beautiful Eastlake rocking chair at a local flea market. I believe that the chair is from the early 1900's and was probably reupholstered sometime in the 1950's. The fabric that I removed was the old frizee type that was common in the 1950's. The spring system needed to be retied but the frame was in remarkable condition. Notice the stick and ball detail in the arms.




Stick and Ball Arms

 I carefully stripped the chair down to the bare frame removing all of the old tacks, upholstery and padding. I did find a layer of rubberized horse hair covering the springs and a layer on the inside back. I retained this horse hair and reused it in the restoration. I them streched 4 1/2 inch juste seat webbing on the bottom or deck of the chair. I have a special webbing stretching tool and I weave the webbing as I stretch and attach it to the frame. I then proceeded to attach the original coil springs to the new webbing deck. Once that was accomplished I hand tied the spring system using jute sping tying twine and incorperating an eight way hand tied system.

When the spring system was installed I covered the springs with jute burlap and replaced the horse hair on top of the springs. I then started to "build up" the seat with cotton batting. I am a traditionalist when it comes to restoring old chairs and I always use cotton batting, like the original, and never use foam rubber (yuk). When I was satisfied with the look and feel of the seat cushion I procedded to apply the fabric.



Beautiful Fine Wood





Check Out The Detail



Detailed Craftsmanship



I like to choose fabrics that are modern yet lend thmselve to compliment to age of the furniture. This particular fabric is a durable hard faced fabric that features black, gold, green and maroon colors in a geometric stripe. After I expertly applied the fabric I trimmed the chair. I did not use the traditional "Scroll Gimp" and decorative tacks but made a "double welt" trim using the same material cut on the bias (diagonal).

When I was through upholstering the chair I reattached the rocker base and the original one coil rocker springs. I then cleaned and polished the wood to highlight the beautiful wood grain. This chair is for sale in my eBay store.