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dreamgoddess_01

wicker settee...trash or salvageable? (lots of photos)

14 years ago

Some friends of ours had this wicker settee stored in their barn and were going to trash it. Apparently their cats had alot of fun tearing it up. Of course, I immediately said I wanted it.

Now, what in the world do I do with it? I've looked at a couple of websites about restoring wicker, but frankly right now, I don't have the $$ to spend on supplies to repair it or to pay someone to restore it.

Any suggestions on what I can do to make it look better? I've got to get it cleaned up and I know I can paint it, but any ideas about the pieces that are loose or coming off? Until I can get the $$ to really restore it, I guess I just need cheap fix ideas to get it looking good enough that I could use it on my porch.

Or should I just do as my friends were going to do and trash it??

{{!gwi}}

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Comments (17)

  • 14 years ago

    Put it on Craigslist.

    Make sure you title the ad *Wicker City*.

    Ask hundreds of dollars for it and call it "authentic".

    -------

    No, really, your should trash it. It is beyond repair. You would never recoup your investment in supplies and time.

  • 14 years ago

    If it's still structurally sturdy, I'd paint it a fun color like perwinkle or apple green and get a seat cushion to disguise the seat (which seems to be the worst part). The back and arm don't look that bad and I think if you painted it, it would all blend in. A fun stripey seat cushion and it would definitely be a fun addition to a porch.

    Then again, I like my furniture "broken in" so I may be a bit biased, LOL!

  • 14 years ago

    Dilly_dally, I had to laugh at putting it on CL! I know it's in sad shape, but I really do hate to trash it.

    lkplatow, the frame is very sturdy. It doesn't wobble and as far as I can tell, none of the structural supports are broken. This one definitely qualifies as broken in! LOL!

  • 14 years ago

    Well at first look I thought "trash it". But looking closer you could add a wooden seat if the struckture is sturdy enough to hold the weight of two people. If not there's no way I'd take the chance of someone getting hurt setting it in.
    Once that's done you could "patch" upholster the arms and back.
    It certainly would be a unique piece. If it were mine I'd do it, but like I said, "only" if it's sturdy enough.

  • 14 years ago

    I would say bye-bye to it.

  • 14 years ago

    I was still writing when you posted so I didn't see you last message. I'd say you have a salvagable seat there dreamgoddess. I repurpose furniture and if the bones are good then you can save just about anything. No need to add more to the landfills.
    The green three R's are....
    Reduse, reuse, repurpose.

  • 14 years ago

    Paint it something fun colored but turn it into a planter- some climbers and trailers strategically placed will cover the damage-

    try cross posting over in trash to treasure- they have some great ideas over there, too.

  • 14 years ago

    justgotabme, a wooden seat was just what I was thinking about! I was wondering how that might would work. I could get DH to cut a piece of wood to fit the seat and then cover it with a cushion. Put some fun pillows on it and maybe something over the back of it to cover up the holes at top and it might be good to go!

    The frame is very sturdy, so I don't think there would be a problem with it holding the weight of people sitting in it.

  • 14 years ago

    Yeah! If you have anymore questions, just ask!

  • 14 years ago

    I'm definitely going to give it a try! We already have some wood that would work and my MIL said she would make a cushion and some pillows for me. I shouldn't have much $$ invested in it, so if it still looks horrible, I haven't lost much.

  • 14 years ago

    lkplatow wrote:

    ~~Then again, I like my furniture "broken in" so I may be a bit biased, LOL!~~


    I ditto !


    I've never had 'new' so I too am a bit biased with liking the bit of worn look on a piece of furniture, especially if it's something for the garden/outdoors.

    I would paint the piece. Then I'd use hot glue to stick down wicker that is loose.

    Then I'd use newspaper, taped together to make one large piece, and lay it on the seat pushing the newspaper into the outline of the actual seat to form the shape of the seat.

    Using a pencil I'd outline the seat shape onto the newspaper.

    Now you have a pattern for the seat.....I see the cross bars are still there under the seating area so I'm going to assume those are study enough for the weight of someone sitting there.

    Using the paper pattern, I'd lay it on a thick piece of plywood and transfer the pattern shape.

    Using a jig saw I'd cut out the plywood, sand the edges, add batting and some fun fabric, stapling batting and fabric to the underside of the plywood.


    You can even use some of the left-over fabric to make cute 'doilies' for the arms of the settee....small squares of fabric, stitched along the edges then a drop of hot glue to hold the square of fabric on the arm of the settee.


    OK, so it's not everyone's idea of re-use and re-purpose but I'm a thriftyholic from long ago...back before it was popular..... and I'll try anything first before having to throw that settee away. *smile*

  • 14 years ago

    amity, thank you so much for the suggestions. I hadn't thought about taping newspapers together to make my pattern...this will help a bunch! I love the idea of the "doilies" for the arms. I bet this would look sooo cute!!

    I love the idea of re-purposing this piece. I can't wait to see how it turns out! I'm going to work on cleaning it this afternoon and then probably start working on gluing tomorrow.

  • 14 years ago

    I would toss it. Around here these can be found very frequently at Goodwill, yard sales, etc, in far better shape. They are a fairly disposable item around here (unless it's wonderful old wicker and this does not appear to be ) I've gone through 3 of them( for outdoor casual use) in the past 20 years. They've been easy to replace for cheap.

  • 14 years ago

    "doilies" are what I was talking about for the arms and top back. Just didn't know what to call them. LOL~ Way to go Amity!

  • 14 years ago

    I was wondering how you can use this on your porch...unless it's a covered porch. Is there a spray or something that you can use to make this withstand outdoor weather??? Just curious... :)

  • 14 years ago

    I have to agree w/Leahcate, I'd toss this one. Even replacing the seat, you still have major damage to that one arm and the back. Seems to me this piece is never going go look like anything but a cat-damaged attempted repair. Sorry to be blunt but as LC also says wicker settees are pretty commonly available. Plenty of people ditch them with only slight damage that CAN be fixed with a decent paint job. I'd let this one go.

    Ann

  • 14 years ago

    unless there's some kind of DIY weaving that you could do ; remove pieces of wicker from the back and try to apply them to the places where the visual is more important. You can camouflage all you want, it's pretty broken up.

    let us know the outcome; you can prove us wrong, and we'll admit we were so verry wrong in saying thrash it, lol.....