After decades of use and sun exposure in a conservatory many classic Lloyd Loom chairs are faded or damaged. While it’s still possible to buy the originals (I picked these up at a car boot sale) it’s likely that they’ll need a little care and attention to bring them back to life. Here’s some simple tips to renovate vintage woven chairs and bring a touch of retro design onto your patio this summer…
TIP 1: CLEANING
If a woven chair has been in storage for a long time dirt and dust can easily become ingrained in the weave. Give the chair a good brush, getting into all the edges and folds of the seat and underside. You could even use the brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner to suck away any dust and cobwebs.
TIP 2: RESTORING THE LEGS
Using a manual screwdriver, carefully remove legs from the base of the chair. Take it slowly – if you slip off the screw head, you could easily rip into the weave! Keep hold of the screws so that you can easily reattach the legs later.
Lightly sand down the legs of the chair using a fine grit sandpaper. This will ensure that the surface is smooth and that the spray paint will adhere well.
Using long smooth strokes spray the legs of the chair with a coat of metallic spray paint. It’s better to do a couple of fine coats rather than one thick coat as this will minimise the chances of the paint dripping.
TIP 3: REPAIRING THE WEAVE
While the legs are off, take a look at the weave and if there are any loose pieces around the edges glue them back into place using wood glue. It’s easy to poke loose edges back down the sides of the seat with a screwdriver and then squeeze a little wood glue into the gap.
TIP 4: RE-PAINTING
You can refresh the faded colour of an old chair using brightly coloured spray paint. Start by painting the outer edges of the chair and inside the base of the seat. Cover the top of the chair with a fine coat of spray paint. Move around the chair and spray paint from different angles – above to below, left to right, and back again – to make sure that you cover the weave thoroughly.
Make sure that the front of the chair is dry before flipping it over and painting the back and underside with one fine layer of spray paint. Once the first coat of paint is dry, you can give the whole chair a second layer of spray paint to intensify the colour and to cover any parts of the weave that are still looking a little bare.
What do you think of my restored Lloyd Loom chairs? When I found these woven bucket chairs at the car boot sale I snapped them up, knowing that they just needed a lick of brightly coloured paint to bring them back to their best.
I chose bright green and blue to fit in with my mid-century style home. The bucket shape is modern enough to fit into even the most on-trend décor and the woven texture looks great in a conservatory or bedroom.
Let me know if you’ve got any tips for restoring vintage chairs like this in the comments below, I’d love to hear your advice and it would be fab to see photos of your upcycled pieces so please do tag me on Instagram @Cassiefairy 🙂
PIN IT FOR LATER…
12 responses
Thanks for sharing the bargain spray paints you’ve found – that’s handy to know! 🙂
Hello,
I renovated a couple of linen baskets. If you want cheap white matt spray look at white lining paint in screwfix 750mm £5.99 or poundland has cheap chalk furniture paint
in some stores 400ml spray at £2.50. Hope this helps
Hi Lyn, I was lucky that the braid wasn’t too badly damaged on my Lloyd Loom chairs so I’m not sure where you would find a replacement. However, I did use some fabric ‘gimp braid’ trim around the edges of the seat when I reupholstered my wicker chair – you can see how it turned out here: https://cassiefairy.com/2018/05/16/how-to-print-your-own-tropical-fabric-re-upholster-a-conservatory-chair/
Hi, I am restoring a couple of lloyd loom chairs but am struggling to buy replacement braid as it is pretty damaged. Do you know anywhere in the UK please that sells it? Many thanks. Lyn
Hi Ruth, hmm that’s a tricky one, I’ve never had to remove gloss paint from anything before! Maybe you could use a primer paint over the top of the gloss and before your final topcoat?
What is your tip for removing gloss paint(!) that was applied by a previous owner, please? It’s also between the weave….Thanks so much!
Hi Anouschka, I used Pinty Plus spray paint for these chairs, but I’ve also used Rust-Oleum spray paint on another Lloyd loom chair and that has worked well without flaking off the woven material. Hope this helps 🙂
Hi Thanks for your message, I’m sorry I don’t know of any international suppliers. Fingers crossed that you can find some materials 🙂
Do you know where to buy Lloyd Loom woven material for restoration purposes. I found a manufacturer in England but they wont ship outside the country…
hi, Im wonering what spray paint you use please?
Hi Charlotte, how exciting! Let me know how you get on with your Lloyd Loom project! 😀
I have just picked up a Lloyd loom chair which was sitting outside a house with a cardboard sign saying ( I’m free Into the boot it went really excited about painting and recovering it.