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Our Santa Claus Chair

Our Santa Claus Chair

In our home, we have some very special antiques both my husband and I cherish.  One in particular for me is “The Santa Claus Chair”.  I remember this chair at my grandparent’s home when I was a child and my father would always tell me it was Santa’s chair.  You can only imagine the images that went through my mind as a little girl thinking that we actually have “Santa’s” chair.

Recently, I had asked my father about the history of the chair and where it came from. To his knowledge, the chair was given to my grandparents from his Great Aunt Grace.  It had belonged to her mother who was originally from Stockholm, and she had worked as a buyer at Meier & Frank department store in Seattle, WA in the 1920s.  He believes the chair may have been purchase and imported from Sweden.

If you are a fan of  The Antique Road Show, or you are familiar with antiques, you understand how important it is to keep the value and integrity of your piece of furniture by not altering it too much from the original state.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, horsehair was commonly used in furniture making, due to its durability and quality.  If you have a chair with horsehair, it’s a good idea to try to keep it intact, as it adds value and integrity to the piece.  Unfortunately for me, the chair had been recovered several times, and quite possibly near 150 years old, so the horsehair was no longer salvageable.

My husband and I wanted to make this chair functional again, so we decided to have the horsehair removed, all layers of the original material, resecure the arms back to the frame, and some slight paint touch-ups.  A project that I am not qualified to do, nor did I want to.  We decided to hire a local furniture repair company to make the repairs for us and I’m very happy we did.

The color of material we decided to go with is cream, so it doesn’t take away from the style of the chair and allows the focus to be on the ornate gilded frame.  We are absolutely thrilled with the outcome of our chair and look forward to having Santa’s chair enjoyed for many more years to come!

 

 

I hope you enjoyed reading about “Our Santa’s Claus Chair” and thank you for stopping by!

Gretchen ~ All 4 One Home


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