Q: I recently bought four of these Robin Day Armchairs (larger photo below) off Tradera (eBay in Sweden) for $8 a piece. The chrome bases were pretty rusty, but I fixed that with Autosol Chrome Polish. The problem is the fabric - the chairs have been used on a balcony, so the color on the fabric has faded because of the sunlight.
Also, it's full of stains. The stains I think I can get rid of, but the fabric is also loose in some places, I guess the glue has dried over the years. Do you think it's possible to remove the fabric and use the chair or has the glue destroyed the plastic in some way?
What are your suggestions?
Sent by Daniel
Editor: Please share your advice and ideas on how to re-do the chairs with Daniel in the comments below - thanks!
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Comments (8)
Your best bet is to have them reupholstered. They have delaminated and what is under the fabric would not be attractive without fabric.
There are numerous places in LA that can do this.
Thank you for your reply. However, LA is a bit far since I live in Sweden...
Sorry, better yet Sweden then you should have no trouble finding a good upholstery shop. You will need a fabric with some stretch.
If those were my chairs, I would use a razor blade to cut apart the fabric of one of the chairs, *at the seams*. I would study the construction and, if I thought I could handle it, I'd use the fabric pieces as a pattern to make a new cover. If, once the fabric, etc. was removed, I thought the project was too big for me, then I'd ask for outside help.
I agree with @smellofsawdust, first glance leads me think this wouldn't be terribly hard to reupholster yourself, then again, things can change when you start taking things apart... take a peek and see if this is something you can do yourself.
Sweet! Was that 8 Krona or 8 US$? Either way what a deal for Robin Day Poly chairs. I'll take a dozen at that price.
I had the same problem with my Eames DSX chairs. Mine were spotty, lumpy and loose in places. I've never seen a Poly chair in person, so I'm not completely familiar with the construction. So this may or may not apply.
On my DSX's, the fabric cover has a trim similar to car door edge guards (that hard flexible plastic-like material they used to put on new cars.) It's channeled like them too. I slipped them off the fiberglass shell of the seat; that's how I cleaned them. Oh, if they are built the same way, take the upholstery off outside. I realized that the seat was lumpy and loose because the foam had deteriorated or clumped up in spots. And that foam, it went everywhere! I went to an upholstery shop and got some thin (it's not really thick to begin with), dense foam and some spray adhesive. Cleaned up the fiberglass, applied adhesive, cut foam to shape and re-installed the upholstered covers (much harder now with the new foam.)
Hope everything goes well with your project.
I translated the price to $ so all you americans could understand how cheap they were. But the real price was 59 swedish krona.
Thank you for your very informative tip! The chair does have that trim you are talking about. It's also stapled to the shell all way round. I guess I could atleast try on one chair, since I have four and don't have room for them all in my apartment anyway.
The fabric is dirty and faded, but not worn out - so I'm thinking about recoloring the fabric and putting it back.
We've just been commissioned to work on some new upholstery designs for this chair. Keep your eye out as hopefully launching soon. The advice as above is probably strip one of the chairs down and unpick at seams to get your cutting pattern. Choose your new fabric to cut to shape. We have been introduced to the guys who upholster the chairs and will check first if you wish as they may be able to help too. Only problem being is carriage as we are all UK based. Good luck and just enjoy the process as you will end up with some beautiful additions to the house if done correctly.
Justin. :)