Restoring upholstered chair

[mindutopia]

This may sound a bit odd, but I found an old upholstered chair when I was out running today. It’s down a track next an old abandoned house (so I assume that’s where it came from, would be an odd place to fly tip). There would probably be some historical significance to it because of the house, but obviously no one wants it (house was abandoned probably 20 years ago). I suspect some youths have rummaged through the house recently and that’s how it ended up down this lane.

I instantly felt a bit sorry for it just left outside to rot away and was thinking about going back to collect it. Dh is a bit like . Does anyone know what the cost would be to have something like this restored? The wood is in good condition but obviously all the upholstery would need to be ripped out and replaced. I have no time or inclination to attempt to do it myself, but am curious what it might cost to have it done, if anyone has done this sort of thing before.

I think I need an idea of what I’m getting myself into before I can convince dh to take his van and go collect it.

Here’s a photo

Reupholstering is very expensive. It doesn’t look antique to me, more old and outdated. Also the proportions don’t work imo. If you like it by all means look into reupholstering it, but I highly doubt that the chair has any historical significance so probably not worth saving it unless you really like it.

that looks like Father Jack's chair and I can practically smell it from here

as pp said reupholstery is eye wateringly pricey .... it can be relatively easy to diy for certain shapes/styles but that is full of corners and seams so not an easy start

Thanks, you’re right, probably just need to leave it. The look on my face the last time dh brought home random furniture from a skip to restore, should be enough to remind me that this isn’t really my game!

I did an upholstery evening class for a couple of years. It's not a cheap hobby but it's very satisfying. Lots of YouTube tutorials if you want to have a go, but that's not an easy project.

I think we might have paid £750 to get two done a couple of years ago.

In the trade OP. Is it upholstered with foam or horsehair? That would give you a better idea of age, from the photo it looks around 40 to 50 years old, not antique.

We'd restore the wood, strip the upholstery, and then refurbish completely in modern methods using foam and webbing and then it would use around 5 or 6 metres of fabric. At a rough guess, I'd say £700 to £800 as it looks like a complete refurbishment. If it is older then you'd be looking at horsehair, and traditional restoration which would add more to the cost.

People bring in far worse than that to us though, and expect to get it done for £50 . A chair like that can be a week's work to a craftsman.

I did wonder if I meant £750 for 1...