Some weeks the shop floor fills up with one kind of piece. The last week of October it was modern chairs. Three different designs came through the workroom and ended the week lined up in our front office and showroom: a set of walnut frame armchairs in navy with a square grid stitched into the seat and back, a mid-century box frame lounge chair in cognac brown, and a chrome tube chair with olive green pads and a lime green woven seat. The owner's note on all five photos says only "modern chairs," and that is fair.
If you searched for modern chair reupholstery Palmyra PA, you probably have a chair like one of these: a good frame with a tired cover, in a home, an office or a waiting room. Our furniture upholstery work covers all of them. We are based in Myerstown, about twenty-five minutes east of Palmyra, and we regularly serve Palmyra and beyond.
Modern Chair Reupholstery Palmyra PA: Why Plain Lines Are Hard
A traditional wing chair has rolls, skirts, tufts and curves, and a good deal of the work can settle into them. A modern chair has none of that. The seat is a rectangle, the back is a rectangle, the welt runs dead straight from one corner to the next, and the frame sits right beside the upholstery where your eye can compare them. If a seam wanders a quarter inch, you see it against the wood. If a corner is fuller on one side than the other, you see that too. The style that design books call mid-century modern was built on that kind of clarity, and recovering it means working to the same standard.
Inside the Work: Grid, Box, Chrome
The Navy Armchairs and Their Stitched Grid
Look at the backs of the navy chairs and the pattern is easy to count: four squares across and two high, each one a slightly raised pillow divided by a stitched line. The seats carry the same grid, running front to back. That pattern is not pressed into the cover after it goes on. It is sewn into the panel on a flat table first, the lines marked off from the center of the panel outward, with padding behind the cover so each square rises a little between the seams. Only then does the finished panel go onto the chair.
The hard part is not one chair. It is the set. In a row of matching armchairs, if one grid sits higher than its neighbor, the whole row looks off. So every panel is laid out from the same measurements. The cover is a smooth navy with a leather-look surface.
The middle chair is turned around to show the curved walnut rail across the back, with the navy back pad sitting just above it. That rail is part of the look, so it stays clear of the upholstery.
THE COGNAC LOUNGE CHAIR FROM THE SIDE AND FROM THE FRONT. WELTS ON EVERY EDGE, AND THE WOOD BOX FRAME AROUND ALL OF IT.
A Box Cushion on a Walnut Box Frame
The cognac chair is a different exercise. Its frame is a wood box: square legs, flat arm rails, a rail along the side at the bottom, and the upholstered panels set inside it. From the side you see a vinyl panel filling the frame, a padded inside arm rising above it, and a slab back cushion leaning against the rear posts. From the front you see the boxed seat cushion, the welted band below it, and the two inside arms standing straight up.
Every edge on this chair is welted, and every welt runs straight. On a box cushion the welt is the line that tells you whether the cushion is square. The top and bottom panels are cut to the same size, the boxing strip is sewn between them, and the corners are turned so they come out crisp instead of rounded. The cover is a cognac brown vinyl with a fine pebble grain, so the welts read as thin dark lines against the flat panels.
The fit is close on purpose. The seat cushion sits between the inside arms with no gap to speak of. A cushion a little too big bulges against the wood, and one a little too small slides and leaves a gap.
Two Materials on a Chrome Frame
The third design is the one most people would call an office chair. A bent chrome tube frame, arms that sweep down into the legs, an olive green vinyl back pad, olive green vinyl arm pads where your hands rest, and a lime green woven fabric on the seat. Two materials, each put where it works best: vinyl where hands and shoulders touch, because it wipes clean, and a woven fabric where you sit, because it breathes and does not feel cold through a pair of pants.
From behind you can see how the chair goes together. The back pad is bolted to the chrome uprights with small metal brackets, one on each side. Pads like these come off the frame, are recovered on the bench, and go back on the same brackets. The chrome stays clean and is never in the way of a staple gun.
Shop note: on a modern chair we measure twice and mark from the center out. A stitched grid, a box cushion and a straight welt all depend on it. Once the panel is sewn, a crooked line cannot be pulled straight on the frame.
"An old chair with rolls and pleats will hide a little. A modern chair hides nothing. Every line is either straight or it is not."Alex Levchuk, Alex Upholstery Shop
THE CHROME CHAIR IN FRONT OF THE VINYL SAMPLE CARDS, AND FROM BEHIND, WHERE THE BACK PAD BOLTS TO THE UPRIGHTS.
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| PIECES | Three modern chair designs through the shop in the same week |
| DESIGN 1 | Walnut frame armchairs, curved wood back rail, navy leather-look cover |
| PATTERN | Square grid stitched into seat and back panels before mounting |
| DESIGN 2 | Mid-century walnut box frame lounge chair, cognac brown vinyl |
| CUSHIONS | Welted back cushion, boxed seat cushion, welted front band |
| DESIGN 3 | Chrome tube frame arm chair, back pad bolted to the uprights |
| COVERS | Olive green vinyl on back and arm pads, lime green woven fabric seat |
| FRAMES | Walnut and chrome kept and cleaned |
Modern Chair Reupholstery Palmyra PA: Options for Homes and Offices
Palmyra sits about twenty-five minutes west of the shop along Route 422, between Annville and Hershey, with Campbelltown just to the south. Modern chairs from that stretch of Lebanon County tend to come from homes with a mid-century piece and from offices with a row of matching chairs. We are based in Myerstown and we regularly serve Palmyra, Annville, Hershey and Campbelltown, and every job of modern chair reupholstery Palmyra PA clients bring us starts with a look at the frame.
For offices and waiting rooms, commercial grade vinyl is usually the first choice. It wipes clean, it shrugs off coffee and hand lotion, and it holds up to dozens of people a day. It does need the right care to last, and we wrote out what works and what to avoid in our guide to cleaning vinyl upholstery. For a home, a woven fabric or a leather-look cover can be the better feel, and the chrome chair above shows that you do not have to pick just one.
On a modern chair the choices are yours:
- Cover: commercial vinyl, leather-look vinyl, woven fabrics and performance fabrics from the sample books and cards in our showroom
- Pattern: plain panels, a stitched grid like the navy chairs, or channels
- Edges: self welt, contrast welt, or a clean edge with no welt
- Two materials: vinyl on arms and backs with fabric on the seat, or one cover throughout
- Foam: new high density foam cut to the original shape, firmer or softer to suit the chair
- Sets: one chair or a full row, laid out so every chair in the set matches
No two frames wear the same way, and a set of twelve is not twelve times one chair. So we do not quote from a menu. Every job is quoted individually after we inspect the piece, in person or from your photos. Call or text 717-383-6917 if that is easier.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both. The chrome arm chair on this page is a typical office or waiting room design, and the walnut armchairs are the kind of set you find in a lobby as often as in a den. We work on single chairs and on full rows, and a set is laid out so every chair matches.
For offices, clinics and waiting rooms it is usually the best choice. Commercial vinyl wipes clean, resists spills and holds up to heavy use. Clean it with mild soap and water and avoid harsh solvents. For a chair at home, a woven fabric can feel warmer, and you can combine the two as on the chrome chair.
On these chairs the walnut and chrome were kept and cleaned. Where the padded parts come off the frame, like the bolted back pad on the chrome chair, we take them off, recover them on the bench and put them back, so the frame stays out of the way of the work.
Yes. The grid is marked from the center of each panel and sewn through the cover and a layer of padding before the panel goes on the chair, so each square rises a little. We can match an existing grid, change the size of the squares, or switch to channels or plain panels.
It depends on the number of chairs, the design and the material. The three designs on this page all went through the shop in the same week. You get a realistic timeline with your quote, and if an office needs its chairs back by a certain date, tell us up front.
More Work from the Shop
Other mid-century and modern chairs from the same floor.
A Good Modern Frame Under a Tired Cover?
Send a few photos of the chair, front, side and back, and tell us how many there are. You will get a straight answer from Alex, the person who will lay out the panels and sew the welts. Start with a free online estimate. Serving Palmyra PA, Lebanon and Lancaster Counties, and all of Central Pennsylvania.
