Restore Iron Rattan Furniture

[miss247]

Hi I have 2 x single chairs and 1 x 2 seater chair which have deteriorated rattan covering them as soon as you touch it, the rattan breaks off / flakes off. 

The base is made of iron (i think) see attached photos ive shown the underside as well. 

I'd love some ideas on how to remove and replace the rattan with something else that won't deteriorated like this. I already have cushions for the base, just unsure what to use on the back so you can lean back on it & also for the base to put the cushions on top of?

 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @miss247. Many thanks for your question, I'd be happy to assist.

It's great to have you join us and we look forward to you restoring your rattan chairs. For the backs, you could use Grunt 50mm x 30m Poly Webbing Black which would be stretched back and forth across them to provide a backrest. This type of strapping is traditionally used in furniture to provide support. A cushion could then be used to cover the strapping. For the base, you could cut some marine-grade plywood to size and use it for the pillows to sit on.

I'd be interested to hear what our helpful community members advice would be. Let me mention the creative members @Tara86 and @prettyliving to see if they might like to join the discussion and offer some ideas.

Mitchell

[miss247]

Awesome that's perfect, thanks you so much!  Do you have any suggestions of what I might use to attach the webbing to the chair?

[MitchellMc]

Hi @miss247,

Generally, when applying webbing, you will fix it to start and fix it again at the end of the run. The webbing is run back and forth. An extra rotation around the frame can be added on either side of the runs to lock them into place.

Mitchell

[Tara86]

@MitchellMc  @miss247 Mitchell is spot on would’ve suggested the exact same thing. It’s s really strong aswell. Gives you a great support to sit aswell as to lean into. Add your cushions and you’ve got a whole new outdoor seating area!