Nathan Thomas Demoreel July 2011 from nate on Vimeo.

Time to re-upholster and re-assemble!

Step 1: Measure.

I took the old vinyl off the chair, placed it on top of the deer hide I bought, and traced out the pattern.

Trace the outline with chalk.

Watch out for any defects in the material

Step 2: Cut.

Cut out the pattern, but give yourself an extra inch if you can. its always nice to have a little extra to work with.

Step 3: Buttons

I found an upholstery shop that would make me some buttons for a dollar each. Doing the job by hand is quite a chore, so I’d recommend getting a pro to help you out.

Best 6 dollars I've ever spent!

Step 4: Upholstery Time

The cushioning in this chair was in pretty good shape, so we didn’t have to redo any of that.

Placing the buttons was kind of a pain, and I forgot to take photos of that step. Basically we just planned out where the buttons go, drew their location with chalk, then threaded the suckers and fastened them to the back of the wood insert.

After that, we began to staple our leather hide in place over the wood and cushion inserts.

Stapling it together

One cushion completed

Step 5: Assembly

the completed elements

After we completed the upholstery, its time to put it all together. This is pretty simple, so we didn’t really document it.

The only really tricky bits were the arm rests. We decided to take those to a shop and have them done by a professional. I found a shop that would do the work for 65 dollars, so I jumped all over that.

Putting it all back together.

What did it cost?

Chair itself – $80

2 leather deer hides – $250

Arm rests – $65

Total – $395

Lounger new from “Nood Furniture” -$1599

Savings of $1204

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Hey Everyone!

For awhile now I’ve been in love with the Eames lounger. I think they are pretty neat and every batchelor pad should have one. However, they are pretty expensive and somewhat hard to find.
I found this Eames replica last month – it was very badly beaten up, and I snagged it right away for 80 bucks.

as you can see the vinyl is torn and the wood is beaten up pretty badly.

So, Lets start with the restoration!

Step 1: Deconstruction

Take all these little buttons out, try to do it gently without further damaging the wood. Some of these were glued in pretty tightly and were really tough to pop out. We ended up using a chisel for some.

Once you've taken the buttons out, unscrew everything, and make sure you keep all the parts for reassembly.

Step 2: Remove Cushions

Up next we have to pop off the cushions, which were held in by the screws. This was really easy, just wedge in a screwdriver and pop!

Continue unscrewing everything and removing the cushions. Then take off the arm rests. These were a bit tricky but just make sure you unscrew the grey screws first, then take off the black ones – should go fine!

Step 3: Remove piping

Gently remove the piping from the edge of the wood. If its in good shape, and matches the color youre going to restore your chair to- then you can re-use it for the rebuild. It will save you a lot of trouble later!

Step 4: Sanding!

Now its time to sand! We abandoned  sanding by hand quickly after I dug up my Dads old Mouse sander. Its a pretty lightweight hand sander but it will save you a heap of time.

Here lies the sanded peices of the chair. It looks uneven because I had just wiped it down with a damp cloth to get rid of the dust - an important step before the staining.

Step 5: Staining

I went down to the local hardware store and picked up some sample stains. They were 75 cents each and its a good idea to test the stain on the wood before you choose which color you’d like to go with. Just make sure you test it on the inside of the panel

Oh and ignore my allergy medicine, me and cats don't get along.

Step 6: Annoy your loved ones

Its really important to annoy those that are closest to you. It allows them to appreciate silence.

Step 7: Oh yeah I forgot to show you the Staining

Sorry everyone, I forgot to show you how I stained this beast. Its pretty easy, just dip a paintbrush into the stain and apply liberally. Start from the top and work your way down.

I didn't get any photos of the actual staining process, but here's an after shot.

Step 8: Varnish

Apply varnish, work from top to bottom. Make sure you use those foam brushes and not a hair brush, otherwise you will get streaks. (Thanks for the tip Matt!) This stuff settles pretty fast, so you have to work quickly.

I applied 3 coats.

And here are the rest of the pieces, all varnished up!

One thing I learned through this process is that the stain will dry to a lighter tone. So, the above picture is darker than the final tone. I wish it didn’t, but sometimes you have to learn the hard way

That’s about as far as I am right now. Stay tuned for re-upholstery and re-construction!

Email me or leave comments if you’d like me to expand on anything.