Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 4

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 4

Now I have finished all the hemming it is time to fix the material to the Box

Securing Material at Back

My initial idea was to staple the material in place so I bought a stapler. However there was some fault with it and I had to return it. There wasn’t another stapler that suited my purposes so I had a quick stroll down to Wilko’s.

I wanted some tacks but I didn’t really want anything that looked to modern or garish. Luckily I spotted some antique bronze coloured tacks so I bought those – I bought a couple of packets to be on the safe side.

I made sure the material was as far to the back as possible without it being trapped and secured it with two tacks, one roughly about the middle of the hinges.

Securing Material at Front

Next I pulled the material taut and fixed with one tack at the centre of the front part of the lid.

Securing Material Underneath

Once I had these initial three holding tacks in I proceed to fold the rest of the hem underneath and put some securing tacks in there.

I have to say I am glad I bought two packs of 50 tacks because I bent quite a few. This is because as you can see in the above photograph there are quite a few nails in the wood already and I kept catching them.

Finished Box Seat

 

The folding over of the edges at the corners was a bit of a nightmare and was impossible to photograph whilst doing. I folded the corners to the side and back to keep the front side looking smart. I also added the rest of the tacks as evenly as I could to secure the material in place.

I think you will agree it hasn’t turned out too badly.

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 3

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 3

I had difficulty finding the material I wanted at the price I could afford. That was until I had an Idea.

Curtains

I got these curtains off eBay for under a tenner. The material is much more than I need for the Box Seats so with a little bit of luck I will be able to cover something else too.

Measuring Large Box Front

I am going to use both measures this time. I have used the ruler for the Front of the Box as it holds it nicely whilst I measure.

Measuring the Sides

When measuring the sides I had to remember to include the depth of the foam on both sides. The measuring tape was better for this as it could bend.

Marking out the Material

As you can see in the photograph above I am taking advantage of the fact that the Curtain Material is already hemmed. This gives me a nice straight edge to measure from.

Two Covers Roughly Hemmed

Once cut I hemmed with a simple backstitch around both pieces of material.

Measuring for the Second Hem

After the rough hem was done I re-measured against the Box Seat to see how much I needed to take in.

Cut Short

Oops on one cover I have cut it a little short therefore I need to make the second hem as small as possible to keep as much material as I can. I will let you know how I get on.

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 2

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 2

Now my Boxes were clean and painted (and dry) I could move on to the next part which is adding the Foam padding. I bought some off the market and now had to cut to size.

Rough Foam Cut

I cut the Foam roughly to size then I needed to measure it properly to cut off the excess.

Measuring Foam

To ensure I had a straight edge rather than using a measuring tape I used my ruler and scored along it with the scissors.

Marking Both Edges Ready to Cut

I had lined up the already cut edges of the Foam with the edges of the box lids and cut down the middle. This meant that I only had two edges on both that needed straightening. I like cutting down the work as much as possible.

I trimmed the edges down a bit at a time so I didn’t take too much off although I think it was touch and go in some places. Unlike flat material where you can just cut across easily this Foam was roughly an inch and a half thick.

This means that during cutting it was difficult to keep the scissors straight. Afterwards I found that I had kept to the line at the top but had veered off underneath so I had to trim and correct.

Securing The Foam

When I was satisfied that I had got the Foam cut as good as I was going to get it was time to secure it to the lids. Otherwise when I start trying to measure the material they would keep sliding around.

I wanted to keep the nails to a minimum as it lessened the risk of them poking through the material so I just put one nail in each corner of both of the Box Seats. This should be ample for the next part.

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 1

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 1

Sometime ago I found on the market what I shall term a Box Seat. I am not sure what the correct term is but it is like a mini Ottoman. I got this for the amazing price of £2 so I snapped it up quick.

The paint was flaky and the material ripped. So I gave it a good clean and sanded off the loose pieces and painted it over with black paint. I meant to come back to it sometime at a later date to do the reupholstering. Then lo and behold I found another one from the same place about 8 months later. It is slightly smaller and has different arms but I took it as a sign to get on with the rest of the work.

Box Seats Before

As you can see I have already rubbed down and repainted the smaller Box Seat. The next step was to remove the fabric.

First Layer 

It wasn’t until I started removing the material on the smaller Box Seat I realised there was more than one layer of fabric.

Second Layer

Then I found another layer below the first.

Third Layer

Then after removing that I found the third and final layer which I have to say was horrible and bitty and came away in pieces.

Fortunately the larger Box Seat only had one layer of material and the padding so took a lot less time.

Larger Box Seat Pre-wiped

As you can see even with the padding removed it is pretty filthy. Before I could do anything I was going to have to do some cleaning.

Both Box Seats Wiped Down

I gave both Seats a good wipe down and tried to remove as much of the spare material as possible.

Large Box Seat With Excess Nails

Even though some nails came out whilst I was removing the fabric there were still quite a few left. There were also odd bits of material left attached to the lid. These would all need removing before I could do the next step.

Small Box Seat Lid

Argh! Whilst trying to remove some nails the lid came completely off. This was another job I could add to the list. 

Repair Lid

 

I also needed to repair the raised part so it was flat against the rest of the wood.

Small Box Seat Nails

The above picture shows the Small Box Seat minus its lid. I have to remove all the excess nails from this before I can reattach the lid to it. You may also notice that there is paint missing at the back. When I have reattached the lid I am going to give both Boxes another good wipe down and another lick of paint.