A lady I know was advertising some old furniture that she was trying to get rid of because she was no longer able to restore them herself. I went and had a look and at the top of the heap, I saw this commode chair sticking out.  On closer inspection saw the pictures on the front and it was love at first sight.

There is no call for old wooden commode chairs nowadays, due to hygiene reasons I would imagine. So I wanted to find a way to restore the chair back to its former glory but also have an accent chair I could show off. She told me they had used it for years in their home and it was known as the throne.

Tips for restoring an antique commode chair

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Remove all the stain and varnish

This commode chair had so much potential it just needed a little TLC to restore it back to its former glory.

I started by sanding all the wood using an orbital sander using 180 grit sanding discs to try and remove the many layers of varnish. This is always a good place to start because you don’t know what is hiding under all the old stain and varnish. There were also pieces of the chair missing, so I needed to see what wood was underneath so I could match up the wood from my scrap heap. 

Repair the structure

The structure of the chair had been weakened when the back supports had been cut away to fit around a regular toilet.  So my first job was to try and fix the structure of the chair. I could see straight away that there was more damage to this chair than I originally thought.  But the chair was free and so is my time because this is my hobby, so I decided to continue with the restoration. 

To keep my material costs low I recycle wood from old furniture.  I advertise for free broken furniture and strip them down for parts. You would be surprised how much furniture is out there for free.  I have been doing this since 2016 and hardly paid for any wood during that time. So I was pretty confident that I would have some matching wood in my woodpile.

I found the front of an old dresser drawer which I used to repair the back support. It looks like a close match.

The old broken supports were so loose they just pulled out.   I used the existing support as a guide and cut a new piece using a table saw.  

I glued the new supports into place and used ratchet straps to pull the chair together while the glue dried.  These ratchet straps work great if you don’t have clamps long enough.

Repair the screw holes

When I sanded off all the old varnish I could see that the chair had been wet at some stage. All the screw holes had rust marks around them and when I removed them the wood inside the holes was rotten. I removed a lot of the rotten wood using a drill with a suitable size drill bit on it. To make the holes smaller so the new screws would grip, I used toothpicks. You add some glue to the hole and put some toothpicks or matches into the hole. Your screws will now be able to grip and secure the chair.

Repair broke wood

One of the legs was damaged, a large chunk of wood had broken off but lucky for me it was still hanging on.  I tried to glue the wood back into place but due to the shape, the clamps did not work. I needed to clamp the wood from both sides to keep it in position. To hold the wood in place while it dried, I used Cable Zip Ties which pulled it all in together.

Filling the screw holes

I patched up the screw holes that were damaged when the screws were removed. To do this you use the sawdust that was in the sander bag. This way you get wood the same colour as the piece you have just sanded. You mix the sawdust with some glue and make a paste which you use to fill the holes. My personal choice is to overfill the holes in case I have any shrinkage.  

You can sand it level once it dries.

Not all the screws were countersunk so I went over all my holes with a Countersink Drill Bit so they were all the same.

Restoring the Commode Chair pictures

Because the pictures were the main attraction for me, they were staying no matter what condition.  They had so many layers of varnish on them which caused the surface to have a cracked appearance. I had thought about using a paint stripper but there was a big chance that it could damage the images. I used a Cleaning Pad attached to the bottom of my sander to remove the bulk of the varnish and did the rest by hand.

Painting the legs

The cast iron legs on this commode chair were awesome but very worn and tatty.  I did try Brasso and soaking them in vinegar, but nothing worked so I sprayed them with gold spray paint. 

The holes where the legs went were also worn so the legs would not screw back in and stay in place.  To secure them you can use epoxy glue.

Staining the commode chair

I chose to stain the chair dark mahogany because I thought it would hide some of the water and rust stains that did not come off with sanding.  I did add two coats of stain because the first coat did not cover all the stains. To seal the wood, you can add 2 coats of oil-based polyurethane. I used 240 grit sandpaper after the first coat, this step I did by hand.

Add the gold leaf to the applique.

From past experience, I have found sanding these applique just damages the surface.  You can use a paint stripper to remove all the old stain and varnish.  I tried to stain the wood after I used the paint stripper, but the wood would not take the stain. My next idea was to highlight the applique using gold leaf.  The problem was I did not have any, but I did have nail foil which works in the same way.

I added size adhesive to the applique and waited a few hours for it to go tacky and then applied the gold foil.  This is the correct gold leaf to use. 

Making the removable seat

I knew there is not a high demand for wooden commode chairs.  So, to make the commode chair more appealing to a buyer I wanted to make a seat that covered the commode but one that could be easily removed.

I cut a piece of plywood to size for the base and used this as a template for the foam.  Any foam will work for this because it will be covered.  I used an offcut of an old foam mattress which I patched together. You can use an electric knife to cut the foam, it gives you a nice clean edge.

If you are joining two pieces of foam like I have spray adhesive works great. You spray both sides of the foam and leave it to stand as per instructions on the tin. Then you push the two pieces of foam together.

To give the foam a soft appearance you can pull the top corner down and staple it to the wood before you add the batting.  This method for me works best because you don’t have that square look to the cushion. I used some batting to smooth the surface of the foam before adding the fabric.

For this style of furniture, a woven fabric will always look good, and it is hard-wearing. The fabric was attached using a staple gun and covered like the images below.

And FINALLY……..Yay!  I was finished. Phew exhausted just typing it so if you read the whole post WELL DONE!

More great restorations

This dresser was so damaged nearly every piece of wood was broken, it was fit for the tip.

captains chair

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