To me there is nothing so cool as a classic that has been thoroughly messed with. Remember Falco? You know...Rock Me Amadeus! OK, maybe that wasn't a great example...but you know what I mean!
It's a rocking chair design that EVERYBODY has seen a million times, right? But to have the
audacity to take Grandma's bentwood rocking chair and re-imagine it in sexy black vinyl and chrome
plated steel? That's just brilliant. Pun intended. Sadly, this example had seen MUCH better days
when I picked it up a couple of years ago.
I knew it was going to make for a dramatic Before & After so I took a couple of telling photos of it as
soon as I got in back home from a road trip to KC. I was actually happy that the upholstery was shot
as the asking was well within my realm AND it meant that I could do whatever I felt like with the
transformation.
I had no real plan in mind or idea what I was going to do with this when I got it, but somewhere
along the way Jeff Swift got involved and then while in New Orleans I managed to pick up a couple
of black suede hides and well...you can guess where that lead. So I dropped off the pads and hides
with Jeff and told him to take his time, no rush. I had plenty else to keep me busy. Then a couple
months back he asked me to pick up the finished product. I still hadn't cleaned up the chrome bits!
Seeing the fresh new suede upholstery finally spurred me into action. Jeff has done a spectacular job,
especially given the paltry amount of suede left over. So little that I was fairly embarrassed when he
handed it back to me in a tiny bag. It must have been a real challenge to pull this off. But for real, if
you need something re-upholstered, and you can convince him to do it...Jeff's your man.
You might notice in the last "Before" photo up top that there is one screw that has a big ugly washer
under it. I was lucky enough to find the sleeve (that the washer was being used to replace) still
rattling around inside the rocker's leg. In fact, the only thing missing is one end cap, and I just don't
have any idea where one might locate one of those. Still, after cleaning all the dirt, dust and debris
off the chrome and re-assembling the chair...oh man does it look good! Some might even say, sexy!
Here's a little before and after of the chrome bits. It took a little elbow grease and some 0000 steel
wool but they turned out really nice. Not too shabby for a 500 mile round trip, a couple of years wait,
a Christmas trip to New Orleans, a few months in the shop and a couple days polishing! Well, it
wasn't much of a plan, but it's nice that it all finally came together. And now it's available. It only
took forever!
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