Sue Marsdon and Geoff Addison

Repair of cane, rush and seagrass seats

French Chair Before and After


beautiful old French chair before and after it's reseating work

Sue recaned the seat of this lovely old French chair and then painted the seat to match the existing back.

Close up of beautiful old French chair after it's reseating work

Commode Chair Before and After


A picture of the Commode Chair before and after Sue worked on it.

Colonial Rocking Chair Before and After


A picture of the rocking chair before and after Sue worked on it.

Thonet Chair Before and After


This picture is of the Thonet rocking chair when it first arrived, tatty and covered in paint with the seat hanging down.

When this Thonet chair first arrived at the workshop, the cane was broken and the frame had been painted with white gloss.

This shows the serious crack along one side of the seat.

It had serious cracks because it had been in a flood. These were restored by furniture restorer Mike Baker.

This picture shows Sue at work on the Thonet chair, removing the original tatty cane.

The first stage - clearing the cane.

This picture shows the Thonet chair in pieces on the floor, having been stripped, recaned and polished.

The chair was dismantled. I hand-stripped it, sanded and polished it and recaned the panels.

This shows the end result - the fully reconstructed rocking chair, its mahogany wood glowing and its panels beautifully recaned.

Thonet rocking chair after restoration and recaning.