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Upholstered Objects

Our clientele and objects range from complicated private and institutional pieces to simple family heirlooms.

What is important about the work is the way treatments are performed. Our techniques save the original components, including original stuffings or internals, whenever possible. We clean internals and reuse them, which is the ultimate green practice.

Our practice does not condone discarding the internals, even if they have been modified, precisely because we believe the art of the upholsterer is part of the history of furniture building. Often original upholstery has been modified not excavated. The materials and techniques used in original upholstery and even in modifications reveal historical information about the time frames of both original and modified internals and regional techniques.

There are occasions, though rare, where prosthetics are created for frames too undermined for reupholstery even using conservation techniques. In those cases MPFC does not use ethafoam inserts, which is a popular technique in conservation today. We prefer to stuff specially engineered prosthetics with period appropriate materials using authentic stitching techniques specific to the region and century of the piece.

We work with restorative techniques which are era-appropriate, and traditional finish methods. Reversible barriers are used to protect original finishes when appropriate. We create most of our own finish materials and hide glues.

In addition to the projects shown on this page, we have the following individual pages:

• Modern Classics.
• Rockers.
• Sofas, Love Seats + Recamiers
• The Hearst Castle® Flemish Sofa Treatment
• Upholstered pieces for the Imperial Monterey Furniture from Crater Lake National Park
• Upholstered pieces for the Mason Monterey Furniture from the Oregon Caves National Monument.

 

American Hepplewhite Side Chair Ca. 1790

A family heirloom, this Hepplewhite side chair in mahogany featured beautiful Prince of Wales feather carving around the cameo back, arm grips and arm stiles. We repaired several new breaks in the original back and arm joinery as well as delaminating previous repairs.

Before, left, and after treatment, right.

 

Darkwing Manor's Gothic Revival Chair Ca. 1860

Darkwing Manor's set of four Italian beech wood chairs were crafted in a Renaissance / Revival Gothic style. They had their original finish and internals intact, but had been reupholstered once. MPFC removed the original stuffings and cleaned and recarded and repaired the reusable materials. We conserved the frame joints and tack holes. We cleaned, polished and waxed the original varnish. Hair pods were restiched to historical accuracy, and the chairs were rewebbed and springs retied. It was under covered in new muslin, and upholstered in a reproduction velvet from its period. Before, left, and after treatment, center and right.

 

J. G. Stickley Chair Ca. 1900

The family heirloom was in poor condition, having been used for many generations without maintenance. The frame was cleaned, joinery reglued, and splintering substrata was repaired. The label was preserved, and the finish was waxed. The original stuffings were missing but the original spring unit was intact and usable. Springs were tied and period appropriate hair and algerian seat pod was created and hand stitched. The back pillow was engineered in channels and filled with goose down. Loops were fashioned for the corners to suspend the pillow from the upper back finial. The seat pod and back pillow were covered in muslin and a historically accurate show cover tailored. J. G. STICKLEY CHAIR RESUME

Before, above, and after treatment, below.

 

NPS Crater Lake National Park CCC Bench

This bench, one of four, had been in storage for several years. All four benches were made at the time of the original construction of these buildings, by a member or members of the CCC crews. It had a secondary vinyl upholstery, and severe damage to the corner posts. Some material is missing from one of the posts tops, and one outer edge has sheered a piece approximately 5-inches long.
NPS CCC BENCH RESUME (Coming Soon)

Before, above, and after treatment, below.

Before, left, and after treatment, right, in the images, below.

Italian Fauteuil Ca. 1920

Family heirloom, this fauteuil frame was badly damaged, fractured and splintered inside the apron and left-facing arm.
HIGHBACK FAUTEUIL TREATMENT REPORT

 

American Victorian Eastlake Ratchet-Back Chair Ca. 1875

The Eastlake chair had been robbed of its seat hair, fiber pods and springs by previous poor upholsterers: even if in good condition, the seat did not sit correctly for the piece. Howeverr the back retained its hair pod and stuffings. The original varnish was nicely patinated, but there were several issues in the joinery .The joinery was repaired and the finish was cleaned and waxed. The seat was rebuilt to original standards using historically accurate materials and methods, and a dense cotton velvet show cover applied with historically accurate gimp tape.

Before, above, and after treatment, below.

 

American Empire Seignouret Chair Ca. 1830

Family heirlooms, this American Empire Seignouret Chair from New York had a soiled needlepoint seat and the frame needed treatment and preservation. SEIGNOURET CHAIR TREATMENT REPORT

Before, left, and after treatment, center & right.

 

Colby & Sons Greek Revival Chair Ca. 1880

This chair was built in Chicago in 1880 by Colby & Sons. We provided a full treatment report on this project. As a private client treatment on a piece that will be used in her home, there are compromises in terms of conservation and restoration.
Before, left, and after treatment, right.
GREEK REVIVAL CHAIR Ca. 1880 TREATMENT REPORT

 

American Walnut Balloon Back Chair Ca. 1860

The chair shown here was a family heirloom needing finish repairs and
reupholstery utilizing the original innards in a new cranberry velvet.
After we finished this conservation project, the couple found two more chair
frames to match which were completely stripped of finish and innards and
asked us to bring them up to par with the original.

Before, left, and after treatment, center and right.

 

Baroque Revival Chair Ca. 1880

Coming soon!

 

Two French Deco Chairs Ca. 1945

Family heirlooms brought from Europe, these two chairs were modestly re-upholstered deco chairs in vinyl and cotton velvet. The innards, however, were intact. The pieces were excavated, frames repaired, innards cleaned and reutilized, and reupholstery in a mattlasse which is a more appropriate material and style for their time. Legs were added, as the legs they had were unfinished wooden stumps hidden under the fringe, which was removed.
TWO FRENCH DECO CHAIRS RESUME
Before, above, and after treatment, below.

 

Four American Balloon Back Chairs +
Two Cameo Back Chairs Ca. 1860

A family ranch in Oregon had a set of fine dining chairs used daily; our job
was to clean the needlepoint seats and back the grandmother had created;
conserve the seats and backs; repair the frames as necessary; conserve and repair
the finish; and finally, to create slipcovers to keep the needlepoint seats clean
from ranch hands coming in to sit and eat lunch.

Before, left, and after treatment, center and right.
Balloon Backs, above, and Cameo Backs, below.

 

"Godwin" Inspired Barrel-Back Chair Ca. 1870

This is a family heirloom passed down from a great-grandfather ca. 1870.
We believe is a late regency oriental-influenced primitive in the Godwin style.
It was badly broken, and had been repaired with crude metal brackets.
We repaired the breaks properly, repaired the finish, allowed the anomalies to
stand as is, and returned the piece to leather upholstery.
GODWIN-INFLUENCED PRIMITIVE BARREL-BACK CHAIR

Before, above, and after treatment, below.

 

Fauteuil Ca. 1950

A good reproduction with gilt trim, this piece was cleaned, the finish preserved, the innards cleaned and reused, and then reupholstered in appropriate materials.

Before, left, and after treatment, center and right.