A couple weeks ago a friend gave me a set of eight modern painted chairs. They had seats woven with Danish cord in a traditional pattern, four chairs were painted green and four, yellow. What a deal, huh?
I already had a set of four modern red chairs that were woven with a light, almost white Danish cord in a checkerboard pattern.
And by the description I was given of the set of eight before I saw them, thought they’d all be identical to my red set. What a wonderful, large, complete set the additional chairs would make, I thought.
Whoa! Hold the phone there. When I got all the chairs together I discovered that although these chair sets were similar, they were not exactly the same. My idea of a large complete matching set (with the four sets of red, green and yellow) just flew out the window.
The new set had four back slats and the old set has three, the seats are narrow on the new set and the old set has a much wider seat, and there are bulb shaped tips to the front legs on the new set and the old set has none.
And although the seats on both sets are woven in Danish cord, it’s not the same color, nor the same pattern.
But all is not lost! Once these are all reglued and the seats are rewoven I can split them up into three sets of four chairs each and sell them as sets of four! Problem solved.
Important take-away note:
- Before I saw these chairs all together, I thought they were all identical. And I’ve been at this chair seat weaving restoration biz for over 35 years and am knowledgeable about a lot of stuff.
- But yet, I was mistaken about the color of the Danish cord, the size and designs of the chair frames, and the pattern of the woven seat!
- So can you imagine how difficult it is for a restoration expert or specialist to ascertain what type of chair seat weaving it is that you need done when just talking to them on the phone?
- See how important it might be for you as a customer to be very specific about the type of chair, its pattern, and material when arranging for a chair caning expert to make the repairs on your furniture?
- To avoid confusion be sure to send lots of pictures to the repair person before taking your chair to their shop.
- Once the repair person knows what type of materials are needed he can place the order with the supply company, unless he already has enough on hand.
That’s all for today, what’s your take on all this? Comments welcome. Happy Weaving!
This is exactly why I do not give an estimate on cane repair until I actually see the chair. Customers don’t actually know just what kind of repair they need over the phone.
Cheryl Klingler
I absolutely agree Cheryl and always give them the estimate after physically seeing the piece and I state that on my Pricing-Charges page. Do you by any chance have a website? You can post it here if you do and link back. Thanks for leaving the comment!