Mr. Frugalista and I were so excited when we inherited this lovely Antique Balloon Back Chair from his uncle's estate. Those curvy legs and carved details fit right into our decorating style. The red velvet seat had a faint stain but otherwise, the chair was in excellent condition.

It has been a well-used chair in our home and for many years was paired with a cherry wood sofa table used as a writing desk in our living room. Sadly after one too many gatherings and surviving two kids and a dog it was looking a little worn and tired, much like it's owners.

An Antique Balloon Back Chair Makeover From The Inside Out

This is what the chair looked like before the makeover. You can see the fabric is worn and there are a lot of knicks and scratches on the wood.


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So I started this makeover thinking it would be a quick and easy refresh with a little paint. Oh was I in for a surprise!

The Easy Antique Chair Makeover That Wasn't

Step 1 - Painting The Frame

First I filled the knicks and gouges with wood filler. At this point, I didn't remove the fabric because the plan was to paint it too. Once I gave the wood frame a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ in the color Old White, those lovely carved details popped.


But when I brushed the second coat I noticed dark spots coming through the paint. The infamous paint bleed, where the tannins in the dark wood bleed through the paint, especially with whites. To block the stains I primed over the first coat of paint with shellac and it worked like a charm.

Step 2 - Distressing The Paint

Once the paint was dry I lightly distressed the finish with 220-grit sandpaper along the edges and the carved details.

Step 3 - Protecting The Finish With Wax

To protect the finish I applied a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ clear wax using a round wax brush. Next, to give the paint an aged patina, I brushed dark wax over the clear wax, making sure to get into the nooks and crannies, and removed the excess with a lint-free rag.

Dark Wax Tip:

A great way to get deep into the nooks and crannies with dark wax is to use a small chip brush and cut the bristles down to 1-inch high. It is my go-to brush for this purpose.

Changing The Plan For The Accent Chair Makeover

Like I mentioned earlier, the plan for the upholstered seat was to paint the fabric with chalk paint in the color Duck Egg Blue. As I was about to get started I noticed something didn't feel right underneath the fabric. The more firmly I pressed my hand the more I realized I needed to remove the fabric and see what the problem was.

Deconstructing The Chair

Upon removing the fabric I noticed the first layer of batting was still in decent condition so that was promising.


I managed to remove the batting in one piece and was expecting to find horsehair underneath. To my surprise was layers of stinky, dusty, and very messy straw stuffing. Well, that's got to go!

Now I'm getting nervous because this isn't looking like a simple upholstery project and I feared what lied underneath that straw.


Once I removed the bulk of the straw I noticed the burlap cover was ripped and the chair springs were popped right through the fabric. Now I'm very nervous because I've never repaired the inside of a chair before.


Replacing the straw filling and burlap cover I figured I could handle but what was waiting underneath I was not prepared for.

Suddenly I had flashbacks of all the gatherings where this chair had been used and realized how forgiving the poor souls who had to endure hours with chair springs poking up their butts and never once complained. Talk about embarrassing!

You can see in the photo below the twine tieing the coil springs had broken in several places and left those springs standing at attention.


At this point, I am ready to throw in the towel.


After a good clean with the shop vac, I was very thankful to discover the chair webbing was in good condition and just needed tightening. I was also glad to see that all four coil springs were still secured to the chair webbing.

So now what?

I've deconstructed antique chairs for someone else to upholster.

I've watched the pros upholster antique chairs.

But never have I ever attempted to fix a chair from the inside out.

It was at this point I walked away scratching my head deciding I needed to research the cost of having a professional handle it from this point.

Wait a minute, I have a book!

Upholstery 101 Here We Come

I remembered I bought the book The Complete Guide To Upholstery by Cherry Dobson several months back. I ran upstairs to find it and lo and behold she has a tutorial on how to reconstruct the chair and upholster it too!


Thank you, Cherry Dobson, you saved the day and your book and I became best friends. I can't recommend this book enough - it is chock-full of easy to follow tutorials with pictures.

Putting The French Accent Chair Back Together Again

One layer at a time, thanks to Cherry Dobson, we (as in Mr. Frugalista and I) managed to put the curvy antique chair back together again.


...and here it is with new script fabric and upholstery gimp trim.

Instead of upholstery trim, we considered adding upholstery tacks like the original. But at this point, we were so overwhelmed with the chair reconstruction that learning how to add tacks spaced perfectly even apart, like the professionals do, was way too much stress.

You can buy upholstery tack strips that make the spacing a no brainer but heck are they expensive. More money than I wanted to invest in this project. Besides they would have looked far too masculine with the pretty script fabric, wouldn't you agree?


Here's a close-up of the new fabric, found at our local Fabricland store, a Canadian fabric retailer. I also found the perfect color match upholstery gimp trim there too.


Here's a before and after photo of the French Provincial accent chair.


Much better! I'm very proud of the results of this makeover and how we were able to successfully repair and upholster this curvy chair.

It is now being used in our guest bedroom paired with the dresser that we repurposed into a Faux Secretary With Pull Out Desk Top.


When we inherited the antique chair we also inherited a curvy set of nesting tables. Both the chair and the nesting tables were used most often during gatherings and they too were showing their age. While I had the paint out, the French Provincial Nesting Tables also got a makeover.

Like home renovations, sometimes when you think you'll just give something a quick makeover you may be surprised by what awaits underneath.

If I have one takeaway from this makeover, it's that when you feel like a project is way beyond your skill set, there may be a book for that!

If I could, on my first attempt at upholstery, successfully upholster a chair from the inside out, you definitely can too.


If you have any questions about this antique chair makeover, please leave them in the comment section below or the Contact Me tab at the top. I love hearing from you!

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