Complete the Seat

06/07/2025

Another twist on our work here. We got a request to build an “Ice Cream Cart” to display our Granddaughter’s 1st birthday cake. I think it came out pretty neat.
(Also, it is available for rent).

01/10/2025

Special announcement!
I would like to apologize to anyone who has tried to reach me. Particularly anyone who has seen my work at Harbor Harvest in the past month and picked up my card.
I discovered this evening that while I had been disappointed that no one called considering the display space they had offered me, it seems I have had my answering machine TURNED OFF mistakenly. Possibly for months?!?!
I’m so sorry. Please try again.
203 866 4748
I never knew I COULD turn it off. Yet somehow I did.

12/13/2024

I’m pleased to share that I have happened upon an amazing eclectic store/deli/grocery/coffee shop/gift shop that has allowed me a little space to try to grow my dream and share my work as a local furniture repair shop/craftsman/dare I say artist.
Please find some time to check out my little display and all that Marilyn Kunkel has to offer at Harbor Harvest in East Norwalk.
(Formerly D’s Eastside and Market Basket

06/04/2024

In the beginning of my chair weaving journey I would purchase or accept any solid chair that came my way, at a tag sale, bulk waste day, or anyone who said “hey, I’ve got this chair and it’s not worth fixing to me, but if you can fix it and sell it…
My initial goal was to teach myself to weave any and every type of seat. The second motivation was that I just can’t bear to see them in a dumpster.
Well, before I knew it I was good enough to do my learning on client chairs and while my pile continues to grow, none of these finds are being turned over.
So this weekend I emptied two of my sheds looking for my garden tiller and my wife said these are not going back in.
This is just a sampling of the pile I have collected. I have yet to cull the rest.
But my hope is that someone will feel the same way I do about throwing them out because I’m not bringing them back in the yard except to put them in the fireplace.
The fact is, if you see something you like you can have it, but I could always put a new seat in it for you too. (At a price)
One just found it’s way into someone’s car.
They all need work but are viable chairs. There is a set of four, and several pairs.
Have at them. Please!

04/07/2024

Two rustic arm chairs going home and one rustic rocker coming in. I love these type of chairs but they can be touch on the knuckles and finger tips.

11/17/2022

Here’s a new one for me.
I was asked to recreate the weave after someone else refinished this bench. It’s woven with twisted Seagrass. A material I was unfamiliar with.
I’ve suggested it would be great as a coffee table if it had a plate glass top added, rather than a “bench”.
None the less, I’m happy with the results.

11/14/2021

A few years ago my daughter started talking about getting an apartment and I started thinking she’d need furniture. Fortunately (?), I have quite the collection of chairs I can’t bear to see thrown out and have convinced myself I will eventually fix.
She already had a collection of Rae Dunn dishes so I decided to surprise her with an eclectic variety of chairs that I had collected at Complete the Seat in an eclectic variety of seat styles, in my primitive take on the Rae Dunn motif.
Little did I know when we presented them on her birthday that she had already purchased an apartment full of furniture including a dining room set. So they sat collecting dust in my shed for a long time.
We took them out as additional chairs to sit on at her wedding shower and several people expressed an interest in the set. Turns out they are the perfect compliment to my sister’s dining table and general decor. She says she loves them.
I’m glad they’ve found a home.

11/13/2021

10/31/2021

...and these three go home from Complete the Seat tomorrow. You may remember the pile of parts that came in a few weeks ago.

Through some aggressive restoration efforts including steel strap being employed to reinforce the screws and glue, the client gets back her beloved “shabby chic” chairs that had suffered severely from what I call “wire rim notebook syndrome”.

Truth be told, while I did the repairs, my apprentice/son did the beautiful weaving on two of the seats. (My Dad taught me what my Grandfather taught him).

10/31/2021

This little beauty went home today. Well over a hundred years old, by my estimate.

Rails made of hand split hardwood. No nails, screws or staples in it’s construction. (A couple of cut nails in it now) Even has dowels holding rocker blades on the legs.

For fun I used the leftover rush to fashion a “Monkey’s Fist” to go with it.

The owner is thrilled that her grandmother’s “Nursing Rocker” will now serve for the grandchild that her daughter is now carrying.

06/06/2021

When I get a project of someone’s beaten down, tired old chairs sometimes I wonder if it is worth trying to save them. But often when I’m done with them I’ve grown attached and hate to part with them.
This particular set of 4 antique fiber rush side chairs evoke that sentiment more than any so far.
Aside from an awesome new seat, the details that emerged after a good cleaning are amazing. And after repairing some pretty serious damage and bad previous repairs and a lot of glue, they have emerged as a very sturdy, very beautiful set of chairs that could possibly last another 100 years. I think I’ve earned my pay on this job. I hate to see them go.

05/27/2021

Kind of a good night here. I’m starting a second rush chair seat. Had to pause with the first one because it made a convenient work space for my apprentice/son who is weaving a pretty complicated round hand-caned chair seat right beside me. (He’s using caning tools that were hand crafted by my Dad, and handed down to me).