I don’t know why we haven’t mentioned it before, but we hold a couple products near and dear to our hearts here at Spruce. We use them daily to give new life to the most beat-up and dehydrated wood frames and tables that we encounter. Here they are folks:

Howard Products: Restor-A-Finish:

If you have a bunged-up stained wood frame with paint marks, dry patches, nicks, scratches, heat marks, water marks, etc., this is the product for you truly. We start with a super fine sandpaper and rub away all the paint marks left over the years on the wood frame. Sand away the paint as lightly as you can; no need to further mar the surface with a heavy hand. Douse a rag with any color of Restor-A-Finish that applies to your furniture (they offer Neutral, to Golden Oak, on to darkest Ebony) and saturate into the wood. Doesn’t hurt to use a good amount of product. Be liberal with your application. There should be a good juicy shine to the wood. Then wipe off with dry cloth or paper towel. The darker the finish you use, the more color it will leave, so be sure to remove excess Restor-A-Finish where it may come into contact with clothing or upholstery. This stuff works miracles! Check out this wood-framed wing chair that is getting the treatment.

My, how dry!

Wax on, wax off!

Parched.

Refreshed!

The Natchez Solution:

Here is a wonderful, natural, very green furniture re-hydrator. This product is geared for untreated and unsealed wood furnishings and objects. Made from beeswax, mineral oil, and lemon oil, Natchez smells great and does wonders to refresh the driest of wood bones.

A tip I’ve seen on both our supplier’s sites is the use of fine steel wool to apply the product. For both, apply the compound directly to fine steel wool and lightly sand and wet the surface of the furniture simultaneously.  Always rub dry with a clean cloth or paper towel.

We are an official dealer of both products. They are at a super-affordable price of $10 to $15 dollars a pop. Both run circles around “Pledge”.  Come and get it all at Spruce – you won’t be disappointed!

There are those of us that have great difficulty visualizing a makeover, be it with interiors, paint color, or even upholstery. I often hear the musings from our customers, “I love this fabric, but what would it look like on my chair/sofa/ottoman?” For a quick illustration, check out the two different sets of dining chairs below.

Dining set with a subdued, small -scale pattern.

Dining set with a medium, bold, and graphic pattern.

Let’s think critically. Looking at the two sets, consider the two fabrics’ pattern size and color. One is muted in tone but with sheen, and the other is larger in pattern scale with definite contrast in color, creating a more graphic presence. Consider if the two sets were to trade their fabric. You would see a lot more pattern and blue if the fully upholstered chairs carried the circles fabric, and the wood framed chairs would be decidedly more conservative.

For those of you who are not that familiar with fabric and its qualities, think about something called a “repeat.” You can find it by measuring between where the pattern repeats, either horizontally or vertically or both. You can see it initially with your own eyes, as well. If you’re looking at a small sample of fabric, try your best to figure out what the repeat is, so there are no surprises. Below are a few examples of how different fabrics from medium to large pattern scale behave on (virtually) the same chair.

This chair has a combination of small and large pattern; various circles in different grey-scales come together to make up an ombre effect. Throw in some sheen, too!

Wing chair with a medium, all-over organic print and saturated bright color.

Large pattern in two high-contrast hues makes a visual impact.

You could ask yourself questions as we do with our clients here in the shop:

What do you like? (Floral, organic, masculine, feminine, etc. All can describe fabric, too!)

What do you loathe? (Maybe you just have a thing against polka-dots?)

What room will it live in? Will it harmonize or clash with its roommates? (Or your actual roommates?)

Here’s another lineup of chairs with different fabric pattern qualities:

Small scale pattern with saturated color, shiny velvet texture.

Large organic pattern in bright color.

Fully upholstered arm chair in a large, quiet stripe. The stripe only happens once every 18 inches creating a focal point to all that it dresses.

Large focal graphic in calm and neutral color scheme.

This fabric is like two in one for a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde effect! Large scale pattern in two colors happen in two halves all the way up and down the print of this fabric. I love it.

Let’s look at some sofas! This is where you are going to spend the most for upholstery and fabric, so choosing a textile can often cause even the most decisive of us to pause.

Small - medium scale muted pattern. Classic, dignified, and refined.

Larger scale than the last in gold tones, creating an ornate and traditional effect.

Large scale, lively velvet in undulating lacy lava shapes! What an original. The vertical repeat is almost a yard long!

Here’s hoping that a smattering of pictures will help you decide on how to treat your new upholstery project. If you still can’t opt, there’s nothing wrong with a solid or a texture with no pattern.  We’ll see you all here at Spruce and be happy to mediate!

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This may sound too basic to really make a difference, but trust, try! You’ll see!

We recently bought a hand-stapler from Capital City Upholstery Supply. I’m finding it particularly handy to “baste” my fabric together before sewing. Of course, there’s the traditional pinning method below…

Basting with pins...

Or the other way with your brand new hand-stapler!

Basting with staples...

While sewing your seam you don’t have to worry about metal in your stitch path.

Large projects like over-sized cushions are more easily managed with the staple method.  If you work with leather, I think this is a must-have. The staples can be placed in greater frequency so that your stretchy, slippery leather won’t budge. You can also use the hand stapler to secure a dacron/batting wrap on your foam cushion.

The staples are easily removed by hand or with any variety of puller/picker/ pry-er! Go get one. You’ll thank me later…you’re welcome!

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Check out this month’s Upholstery Basics column on Design*Sponge! We’re transforming spaces wall by wall. Click HERE for other Upholstery Basics posts.

February’s Upholstery Basics column is up on Design*Sponge. Click HERE to learn how to transform your plain-Jane coffee table into an upholstered beauty!

Take a look at these previous posts to learn tips and tricks for other upholstery projects:

• upholstery basics: boxed cushion sewing
• upholstery basics: picture perfect backs
• upholstery basics: leather bookshelf