Tahlia – October, 2022
After reaching out to The Junk Map community in last month’s newsletter we had lots of feedback requesting more information on furniture restoration. Although I’ve had a few attempts at upholstery & restoration from hard rubbish and salvage yard treasure over the years, I thought it was a great opportunity to reach out to an expert that not only teaches upholstery but also does commissioned upholstery jobs for residential and commercial (including a recent job for Prada’s Melbourne store!).
Jen Salvana, the clever creative behind Eclectic Boogaloo, gives some great tips and guidance on how to restore vintage furniture. Hope you enjoy reading this article as much as I enjoyed doing the interview.
Eight years ago I was looking at returning to work when my youngest child was starting school. I’m from an IT background and I knew I’d have to retrain myself after being out of the industry for so long. I didn’t really want to go back to IT and my husband suggested I take some time before starting a new job to find myself and figure out what I wanted to do.
I started off painting furniture and flipping it. I was selling vintage furniture and bric-a-brac, I’ve always loved flipping and have a great appreciation for second-hand stuff. I really appreciate the character that older furniture has and the way it tells a story. I wanted to do it up and let it continue to tell its story for another generation.
Along the way I was selling a lot of chairs. I would paint up chair frames, roughly upholster, and then sell them on. Eventually, I decided to do an upholstery course for a more professional finish. I did a short course with Adrian Padgham at Padgham Upholstery and it was a light bulb moment, I absolutely loved it.
I approached them after the course and told them you need to give me a job… I didn’t even ask, I said you need to give me a job! I worked with them until they retired and they gave me the go-ahead to continue teaching classes. So that’s how I started.
Initially, I was focusing on retail and upholstery commission jobs but there was a demand for upholstery workshops. Lots of people would still call Adrian asking about classes so they encouraged me to get that part of the business going again.
A lot of my clients find me through word-of-mouth or Instagram. People see the finished product and they want to come and work with me. Social media is really important for my business; my business is aesthetic. People love to see the result and that’s how I sell.
This is the basic process if you’re doing a DIY project and want to simply make it look nice.
That’s the basic chair re-upholstery process. I teach both modern and traditional upholstery. Traditional involves springs and is a bit more complex than modern upholstery.
I have a great homemade remedy that helps clean and oil the wood at the same time. It was passed on to me by my boss at the time, Adrian Padgham. He had been given the remedy from a wood re-finisher.
This is what I use for every piece of furniture to clean it up. Sometimes that’s all the wooden frame needs, other times I’ll use another product as well.
It’s equal parts white vinegar, linseed oil, methylated spirits and mineral turps. Shake it up, apply with a rag and wipe your piece of furniture down and that will clean up years of grime. I like to use a bit of four zero steel wool and really rub it around and wipe it off with a clean dry cloth.
A magnetic hammer! You need a magnetic hammer when you do upholstery because if you can imagine, you’re stretching a piece of webbing and you have a hammer in the other hand but you don’t have that third hand to pick up the tack. You need to pick up the tack and guide it, then hammer it in.
All the other tools; webbing stretcher, staple remover and so on you can make do without or find alternatives. You can use a flathead screwdriver to take tacks out and there are other workarounds, but a magnetic hammer you can’t replace. It’s something that you really need in upholstery, particularly traditional upholstery.
There are three sides to the business. First, there are the residential and commercial upholstery commission jobs. Residential is my favourite because I tend to work with amazing people who have been saving a piece of furniture.
Then there are the upholstery workshops, which satisfy another passion of mine, teaching. There are three courses that we run at Eclectic Boogaloo; Chair & Chat, Chair Amnesty and the Traditional English Upholstery Course. We will be releasing dates soon on the website for next year’s classes.
Once people have done a course they can come to the Upholstery Club to work on their own projects with a community of like-minded people and use the workshop and tools.
The third part of the business is upholstery supplies which is the retail arm of the business.
I’ve got three core values in the business:
The first is sustainability. I prefer to work with old furniture. I want to give it another life for another generation to appreciate.
The second core value is creativity which goes hand-in-hand with sustainability. I can unleash my creative demons on chairs and see them come to life.
The third value is connectivity. I set up the Upholstery Club to create a community based on a love of upholstery for like-minded people.
Hard rubbish collection was last month so a lot of people came in with roadside pick-up finds. They bring them into the Upholstery Club, which is on Tuesday nights and Fridays. We have an amazing time ‘ooh and ahh-ing’ over all these chairs that they have picked up.
It’s such a beautiful little community just based around upholstery and the connections that people have by sharing this passion with each other.
The upholstery classes are eight students maximum. We use traditional tools, there are no staple guns. It’s all tacks and hammers.
All you need to bring is a chair of your choice and fabric, depending on the course. In one of the courses we provide you with a chair frame.
My tagline on Instagram is “Saving the world one chair at a time” and my community absolutely gets it. I’m very lucky to be hanging out with some very cool, like-minded people.
For more information on the upholstery classes, go to eclecticboogaloo.com.au/our-courses. There is also the contact form on the website and people can see our current projects on Instagram, EclecticBoogalooInteriors.
The shop in Moorabbin is open 9-5 weekdays, but it’s best to call first to let Jen know your on your way in case she’s popped out to Bunnings!
Jen is amazing. Ive completed two of her courses and her generosity of knowledge and passion for what she does is remarkable. Highly recommended!!