I found a very cool shaped very old chair at a junk shop for $5. It is in fairly good shape and sturdy (none of the arms or legs wiggle). But it is missing the seat, which I would imagine was one time a woven cane seat that has fell out. I would prefer not to re-cane a new seat (I have done this before, but I don't find it comfortable to sit on this type of seat and they don't wear well). I would much rather put in a padded upholstered seat, but am not sure how? There is just a large hole in the middle where the seat used to be, and I'm having trouble thinking of ways to attach a piece of wood with padding and upholstery. It doesn't have to be super sturdy, as it won't have more than a 170lb person in it, and will more than likely not be used daily (it will be for our bedroom). Any ideas?Chair similar to this one (no seat)- http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~wayne/Caning/roundchair.JPG
Get a piece of 1/4 or 3/8 plywood at a building center (places like Home Depot usually have small cuts, like 24 x 24 which is all you need.) Use a piece of large paper or cardboard to trace the outline of the seat on the chair , all the way to the outside edge. Using the pattern, then cut the wood in that shape. At the fabric store buy a piece of 1 or 1 1/2 thick foam rubber (back in the drapery department) and cut that to fit on top of the wood. Then add about a 1 thick layer on top of polyester quilt batting (from the fabric store) on top of that. Cut a piece of the seat fabric you want to use about 4 bigger on all sides (so 8 each direction) than the wood seat. Lay the fabric out on a table, flip your wood with the padding over so the padding is on the bottom, against the fabric. Fold and stretch the excess fabric over the wood and use a staple gun to attach it snugly along all 4 sides. Make small folds at the corners to keep it smooth (like tucking in the sheets on a bed). if you're satisfied with how the seat now looks, pick up the chair, turn it upside down and center the it over the wooden back of the padded seat you just made. Use four wood screws just 1/4 longer than the thickness of the chair seat frame and drill through the chair (the frame that would have supported to caning) into the seat wood backing. If the wood is soft enough and the screws are thin you can just use a screw gun but it would be better to pre-drill a small pilot hole first - just make sure you don't go through the padding and fabric. I've done it many times -- in fact just last week did that with two antique chairs from my parents' estate that had blown out caning.
i wonder if a toilet lid seat would work?
Well, I think the thing to do here is cut a piece of 1/4 plywood and inch or so bigger in each dimension than the hole. then put your piece of foam on it with some spray adhesive, and wrap like quilt batting and upholstery fabric over it and staple underneath. then to attach, without damaging your antique frame, I would say attach some turn button type things. If you glued some blocks onto the plywood just a little thinner than the chair frame, and then some longer blocks screwed to those which trap the chair frame under them.
The most throrough way is to dissassemble the chair and reglue it. Label each part with some masking tape and number it so each piece goes back exactly where it came from. The only thing more frustrating than trying to find the right piece as the glue is setting up is to discover you have a piece in upside down the next day. If there are nails or screws in the joints or corner blocks remove them first. Then generally the chairs will fall apart with a little tapping. Clean the inside and outside of each joint with a little sandpaper -- lightly, so you don't create a gap. Then get some white glue like Elmer's or Titebond and reassemble the chair. Make sure it sits level, all the joints are tight and leave it alone for 24 hours.
