Whilst not necessarily in-keeping with my usual style I knew this was a special find.
A stunning 13 piece vintage Drexel dining setting comprising a table with three optional leaves, two carvers and ten standard dining chairs!
The enormity and repetition involved in the refurbishment led to two years of steady procrastination, but hey, I got there in the end, right? Right?
Before
Now, I coulda swore I took a before pic of the chairs too though I can't find it anywhere - let's blame it on 'baby brain' - so just imagine some lovely late sixties mustard gold corduroy upholstered seats that had clearly seen too many dinner parties!
Now, I coulda swore I took a before pic of the chairs too though I can't find it anywhere - let's blame it on 'baby brain' - so just imagine some lovely late sixties mustard gold corduroy upholstered seats that had clearly seen too many dinner parties!
Given the heritage and mid-century styling of the setting I wanted to maintain as much of the original integrity as possible so decided on a sympathetic restoration rather than a full-blown renovation.
The table top was completely stripped, sanded then sealed with several coats of danish oil. The timber is really quite beautiful, I wish I knew what it was. Pecan, maple or walnut perhaps?
I decided to re-finish the apron and legs, which were in poorer cosmetic condition, with a few fresh coats of rich ebony satin acrylic.
The base of the legs were quite damaged (and I wasn't loving their bulbous shape) so as a solution I affixed some vintage brass cup castors for a more tapered line - the wheels also come in handy for rolling the table open when adding or removing leaves.
To accommodate the castors I used the inside dimensions of the cup as a guide then trimmed down each foot with a hack saw until it neatly fit inside.
The chair frames were in great original condition so to retain the natural character of the timber I simply nourished them all using raw linseed oil tinted with a dash of teak stain.
The seats were originally upholstered in a 'lovely' mustard gold corduroy - well, I'm sure it was lovely at some time - which needed replacing so I unscrewed all of the seats from the frames then prized off the staples affixing the original fabric. A fresh layer of wadding was then layed over the existing foam (which was still in great nic) then my chosen fabric was positioned over that - I went with a very neutral mini houndstooth for a classic finish. I flipped the seat over, pulled the fabric sufficiently taught and staple-gunned it neatly in place before trimming away any excess (oh, and remember when recovering seats try not to staple or upholster over the holes needed to re-screw them to the chair frames!).
Before
After
This was a pretty ambitious project and suffice to say I won't be attempting another one this big for quite some time!
I doubt this setting could fit inside my tiny dining space at its smallest let alone fully extended with all twelve chairs so needless to say it's going up for sale via eBay auction beginning at just 99 cents!
Auction has now ended.
I doubt this setting could fit inside my tiny dining space at its smallest let alone fully extended with all twelve chairs so needless to say it's going up for sale via eBay auction beginning at just 99 cents!
Auction has now ended.
Linking this project with some of these parties.
Oh, and I have a new living room makeover for zero dollars coming up soon so keep your eye out for that post if you like a good before and after.
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