Freeside Atlanta is a place of many chairs. Some new. Some old. Some beanbag. Some fold. But there's been one among several that's been begging for help for a long long while:
JUST LOOK AT THIS LIL GUY! Unabashed steel an aluminum construction. Narry a shred of plastic save the long-deceased latex foam barely held in by the strong cloth that's seen lord knows how many smelt-its. But then look at that base! 1940s/50s deco in real honest to god cast (and welded underneath) aluminum(aluminium if you're nasty). But the zombie-shambles/Fallout New Vegas upholstery has gotten this poor chair more than a few dirty looks. It's gotta have a do-up.
With four sturdy nuts and bolts removed, and a peek under the skirt, we can see this thing is from the late 40s to at a guess mid 50s. The post-war boom was good to consumer goods and their longevity. Machinery and standards meant to keep airplanes and tanks from dying at random make chairs that last a century without a fuss. No gas springs, just spring steel. The seat pan could be stripped of it's rotten brown cloth and still be a seat as neat as you please. I'll be damned if this hits a dumpster because of some tatty corduroy old enough to remember Ike getting sworn in.
So what's our flameproof lovechile of the goodform aluminum company and general fireproofing company deserve after 80ish spins around the sun? Well, honestly better than it got today. I stripped it of it's manky smashed old foam. the cloth cover fell apart as soon as I paid more than passing attention to it, and my prefered choice of upholstery is barbaric for such a beautifully overbuilt survivor.
I slapped some leftover matress egg crate foam over the seat and back rest, hogged out some cloth to be in the neighborhood of the right shape to wrap those and their steel support in, and used just enough hot glue and the original hardware to make it not immediately draw attention to itself.
It'd be only proper to use better foam, sew up a nicer cover, and at least reinstall the leather and steel plate corner bumpers, but I did manage this much in about 3 hours, including taking the seat frame for a splash and rub through the garden hose and exorcising the ghosts of a thousand hotdog farts since smoking was not allowed, but expected on airplanes.
Tuck-fold-and-staple upholstery is the lowest way to do it, but this chair is cleaner, nicer, and prettier than it's been likely in my lifetime. I welcome anyone to redo it with it's full due respect, but for now it's serviceable and doesn't look like it's auditioning for a zombie movie. Also that free fabric is pretty hefty and has a neat iridescent green sheen to it that doesn't show on camera well, so gitcha some of that.
