antique restoration and upholstery course

Our antique restoration and upholstery course

What you will Learn in our Beginner’s Upholstery Course & Antique Restoration

We don’t have a set upholstery course nor a set restoration course so exactly what you learn depends on what you ask us to show you but basically, the beginner’s upholstery course covers traditional methods and materials, and antique restoration. However we are aware that twentieth century furniture is popular and we never turn anything away.

Learn in a weekend:-

  • How chairs and furniture were made and how the restoration process works.
  • How chairs are upholstered using the traditional materials.
  • How veneers and polishes etc are applied and restored.
  • French polishing
  • Natural fibre seating

Typically a novice will be able to dismantle and re-build a straightforward  chair frame and complete the upholstery all in one weekend. ( fully upholstered armchairs and couches are a bit too ambitious for just one weekend).

Pepie does the upholstery and Nigel does the woodwork and talks about furniture styles and construction.

We can’t turn you into a skilled craftsman in one weekend but we aim to give you enough building blocks and confidence to tackle your own antique restoration projects.

If you are looking for an upholstery course in the UK we recommend J A Milton in Ellesmere, Shropshire.

We don’t make chairs from scratch in restoration weekends. If you want to make a country chair, have a look at our Country Chair-making course

What you need to bring

You don’t have to bring a project but if you do, you’ll have something to take home. You can bring anything you like – it doesn’t have to be a chair – but if you want to finish it in one weekend it shouldn’t be too big or complicated.

Good beginner projects are shabby and wobbly dining type chairs

with upholstered seats and or backs, open arm-chairs are possible; alternatively tables and other furniture, boxes etc.

Telephone or email us for advice.

antique restoration and upholstery course

What you don’t need to bring

Food (unless you have a special diet). Pepie provides delicious lunches and snacks at break-times.

You don’t need to bring tools but you can if you like. Bring sharp tools like chisels if you want Nigel to show you how to sharpen them.

Course Times

Our Beginner’s Upholstery Course & Antique Restoration courses usually start about 9:30 and finish late afternoon but entirely personal choice (We usually like to finish by about 6:00 in the evening)

How to find us.

A local map and directions will be emailed out to you before the course weekend. You’ll also find a Google map on our Home Page

How many people will there be on the course?

Maximum of five per weekend.

Cost

€215 including all materials, lunches, snacks, etc.

CANCELLATION POLICY


Once you pay the course fee your place on your specified course is guaranteed. If subsequently you want to cancel we will fully refund  if you give us a month’s notice. With less than a month’s notice we will refund if we can find somebody to fill the cancelled space.

If you want to change your booking date

If you find you can’t come on the date you booked, we will change your booking if you give us a month’s notice. With less than a month’s notice we will change your booking if we can find somebody to fill the cancelled place.