11.10.2011

DIY Fail: Wicker Edition

I have a lovely little rocker that I completely adore. Unfortunately, her age is beginning to show and the wicker on her seat is breaking. Time for some corrective surgery... (don't judge - she just wants to feel like her old self again!)


Just look at that sexy braiding and the pretty natural distressing on the paint. We must save her!

So the family got to work...


Well Tim worked... I drank coffee and provided moral support, Madeline wished she could interfere, and Maggie lounged.

Our "workspace" is limited, but we managed.


The strategy was to attach supportive planks of wood to the bottom frame with L brackets.


We (Tim) got it all together and were feeling really good. Then we tested it.


Want to know the best way to feel instantly fat? This is it, hah. Oh well, the L Brackets were a mistake (and were also my idea that Tim didn't think would work). The public announcement: TIM YOU WERE RIGHT!

Guess it's back to the drawing board. Do you know how to fix wicker weaving?

4 comments:

  1. Huh, I was thinking about fixing an old footstool with a similar problem. And I was going to use... L brackets. Hmmmm... Maybe I need to try something else?

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  2. It miiight have been the wood and not the L bracket. We're not 100% sure. Maybe if we had pre-drilled the holes for the screws better... I'm just not sure!

    Hopefully someone else will leave a comment and help us :)

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  3. As an outside observer I suggest you ask your Father. He may have suggested you use oak since it has an interlocking grain not straight which splits easily. L-brackets are good but suggest double fastener ones for distributing the shear load on the fasteners and the wood. Love Dad

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  4. I think it would work better if the wood struts were supporting the chair aswell as the gap in the middle. Imagine a door handle and how you have a lever to open the door. The bigger the lever the easier it is to open said door. Now imagine that lock is stuck, the bigger the lever, the easier it is to break the lock. In this case, its the lever that broke as screws are hardy fellas. I would suggest cutting a section out of the wood struts and screwing them to the underside of the frame. This adds support to the frame which of course is really the thing that's holding you up...

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