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We've managed to pick up some nice Ercol armchairs and some dining chairs but need to reupholster them. My old manual stapler from DIY toolbox is just not powerful enough.
So what stapler / Brad nailer with some power to work on harder woods, probably electric and on a 'as low as possible' budget?
(I've tried local tool library to no avail, I guess we could rent but it's going to take a few weeks to get round to each chair).
No idea of how good it will be but Lidl have some in soon according to the leaflet.
Ercol armchairs
I know it's no help to your question. But I have an ercol armchair and it's so comfy
Matt.
I know a very good upholsterer If it all gets a bit too much to do.
😉 🙂
Waves. I only tackle minor upholstery projects, such as a footstool bought from a charity shop. I use a staple gun for Roman blind battening, it's a 'Stanley aircraft Aluminium', decent enough.
I actually love ercol and have two settees. I follow a couple of their facebook pages, where anyone can ask a question. One of the groups is called "Everything Ercol - Buy Sell & Learn Group No Valuations". The link is:
MOAA - send before and after photos. I love seeing second hand furniture being re-used/re-purposed and given a new life.
@Bunnyhop If you like refurb photos.
Not second-hand but we have had this for 20 ish years and it’s had a hard life!!! We sent it for re-upholstering in May, hoping to get it back this month.
For ****s sake, I’m normally loath to criticise the forum and its operations but christ almighty why is it so ****ing hard to just add some photos to a post? No other forum I use is as complicated and fallible as here and it’s another reason just to not bother with the place.
Why do you need the stapler? Not knowing any better we bought an Ercol sofa where the webbing had been stapled. Properly done webbing does NOT use staples
The webbing is currently stapled on the armchairs we have. They are Windsor 203 in mid-dark wood and original brown patterned cushions. The chaps dog had chewed some wood the very back of one of them, but from the front they are immaculate. Not yet decided on full rub down and varnish or leave or even paint a colour...They are soooo comfy. They were £40 the pair(!) on Gumtree.
They will match our sofa and double chair which are modern Ercol from the outlet shop. I warn any Ercol fans not to browse it if you have a credit card anywhere near you at the time....
We also have 6 dining chairs, which I think are Stag, with seat pads that need replacing. They do need stapling all round.
We were at Johnston's mill in Hawick on Monday and picked up a very generous set of off cuts / fat quarters / fat halves so now have uber posh fabric to pop onto the dining chairs. Hoping we could find / afford some more for the armchairs, and we have found a custom curtain place selling remnants that would work.
https://johnstonsofelgin.com/collections/our-furnishing-upholstery-fabric-collections
We are fed up of cheaper Ikea / Next etc furniture we have had most our life and so are now choosing second hand good quality pieces.
Excellent.
When recovering the dining room chairs, I suggest putting 'bump interlining', or maybe some fine wadding (this is used for upholstery, usually in white and on a roll, approximately 5-10 mm thick)below the fabric. This will help with the feel and look of the chairs, help the covers last longer and will be a tiny bit more comfortable. A good curtain shop/maker/upholster will have some in stock.
Better if 2 of you can do this as it needs a bit of pulling to get the fabric taught onto the seat.
Thanks, will go get some bump interlining!
When recovering the dining room chairs, I suggest putting 'bump interlining', or maybe some fine wadding (this is used for upholstery, usually in white and on a roll, approximately 5-10 mm thick)below the fabric. This will help with the feel and look of the chairs, help the covers last longer and will be a tiny bit more comfortable. A good curtain shop/maker/upholster will have some in stock.
Better if 2 of you can do this as it needs a bit of pulling to get the fabric taught onto the seat.
Might be worth going back through old episodes of ‘The Repair Shop’, they’ve done plenty of reupholstering on there, often with close-up shots of what’s going on. I’m not sure about using a staple gun, they might use them for initial tacking in place, then using a magnetic tacking hammer to put proper tacks in place.
My wife recently rebuilt a (completely knackered!) chaise-longue, and bought an electric stapler. It's mains-powered, from eBay, and cost about £25. While I agree that the webbing shouldn't be stapled, it was invaluable for the layers of material. I'd post a photo if I could figure out how to do it!
The gadget for tensioning the webbing cost double the stapler! 😡
It's fine to staple dining room chair seats, as these will slot into the base. Also you will need lining fabric to cover up the base, hiding the wrapped over top fabric and hiding the messy stapling, this isn't essential as the base is underneath.
It's good fun and lovely to step back and see the work you've put in and it won't have cost a fortune.
NBT won't let me have any more ercole. Although he did allow me to have a gorgeous wooden style chair off a local thrift group. This will need new foam and covers in time, which is quite a big job. It will also need some really good quality fabric, probably wool (off Vinted maybe.)
Just one more tip - Only put the 'bump/wadding' onto the very top of the dining chairs, otherwise the seat part may not slot into the frame if too bulky. Hth.