Eames Armshell Restoration Project

A little renewal has been in order for awhile, not just the blog, yet also the latest addition to our household, this Greige Eames Armshell with original lounge H-base.  A byproduct of a facebook giveaway, this little guy was traded for a couple of other pieces we were looking to sell, win and win.

Initially it looked as if I might have got the bad end of the trade, the chair was a mess.  It had a huge rust stain or something on the seat, the fiberglass was gritty, and the base was rusty, all probably from years of being outside.  With a little resilience and persuasion to my wife (still can hear her echos of "We're not taking that home!") it was soon in the back of the wagon and on the way home. 

Now's the point where I point to where credit is due.  Starting with the Brick House's DIY Eames Restoration post, I followed pretty much the same steps taken to restore it to original beauty.  One of the unique characteristics of this chair to me was the rusty lounge base, so I ended up stripping, sanding and repainting the base in black.  Otherwise I left the original shock pads on and sanded, sanded, and then sanded some more. 

Fast forward to completion and oh my what a difference.  I ended putting several coats of the Penetrol to get the shiny finish, being patient for the oil based product to dry and air out a bit was necessity.

I'm really digging the low lounge base, we have one rocker and the rest 'normal' H or X bases in our Field of Eames living room.  Sitting low, as demonstrated by my offspring scale figure, propping my feet up on our sectional sofa ottoman has never felt more appropriate.  Be sure to also check another great very thorough Eames restoration post that recently was put up by friends over at Plastolux.  Someday I would like to do the Eames color wheel  of side shells around our dining table. 

Doesn't it look right at home?