The Historic District

I bought it at auction a couple years ago. Think I paid $200 or there abouts. I have the missing arm piece and can fix that. It's in the jar.. I'm not sure if I should attempt the upholstery or not.. it came with a bag of horsehair

I guess I could see beauty in the stile and thought it would be a neat project.. I'm not very aware of the value but figured if it was restored it might be worth a bit more or maybe just liked it although my house isn't Victorian.. it kind of has that Beverly Hilllbillies look to it

Here's a few more showing the structure and detail. I'm pretty taken aback with respect to the craftsmanship of the complex shapes. These were expert joiners. I'm not sure if the wood type but I think it's a pretty hard exotic wood and it should come up beautifully.

Hand it over to an experienced upholsterer, Phil. They can right those wrongs. You "could" DIY but what's the point ?

If you dropped it off today, you could be sitting in that nice finished chair within 4 weeks give or take, v.s. hours of trying to understand upholstery techniques, buying the right tools, and so on. Your wallet would be several hundreds of dollars lighter - good upholstery fabric is expensive. This all the more reason to take it to a professional. It will look beautiful when it's done. Until then, it's just taking up space.

I guess the point is not really having the few hundred and still wanting to eat;-) but Its OK.. yes it takes space. I'll need time to sort out the wood parts then I do have a neighbor that does upholstery or a workmate that is set to retire who is also a journeyman upholsterer. Of course I'd have to come up with cash or maybe trade something for the work like maybe a radio I have restored. . Meanwhile I'm watching if I go in antique/thrift stores and such for some fabric that seems right. What's on it isn't original so I dont' really know what correct might look like. I'm in the dark as far as value is concerned but out here there isn't a lot of furniture this old. I suspect it's from England. 100 years old-ish?

It's a great looking chair. If you decide to do the work yourself, check out this book. A very good guide to doing things in a period appropriate way. It's hard work (a lot of manual strength and it's tedious), but if you have the time you can save a lot of money.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Upholst ... pholsterer

I think Ill be OK with doing it and Ill just save it until I get some time. right now getting the living room habitable again takes priority and meanwhile I'm keeping my eyes open for any nice deals on suitable fabric. I'm not sure what the original could have looked like but I guess if I find something I like that seems good quality I'll go for it.
in the meantime Ginger seems to have taken to it

Ginger knows redheads look great in green.

I would hazard a guess that fabric may be the original, Phil

I think it was an appropriate match but I think there are holes from new tacks indicating replacement. I even came acorns a collection of various sizes of new old stock tacks and a little magnetic hammer to drive them in.