$80 seems like a great deal if it is in good shape and has classic styling (which many older pieces do). If it needs any structural repair or additional padding (foam, Dacron wrap, etc.), that of course would cost more for an upholsterer to do. But if it's comfortable and sturdy as is, you'll only need about 6-8 yards of fabric to recover it, so it could be a nice bargain. And toile is a lovely print for a traditionally styled chair. Good luck!

Sarah

equest17 has some good recommendations on the sturdiness of the chair. I think the toile would look beautiful!!

It's my firm belief that toile makes *everything* better!

That said, I think $80 is awfully high. I see wingback chairs nearly everywhere in my area, and most of the time, they're not more than $50. In fact, I often see sets of wingbacks for $50-60.

The only way I'd personally pay $80 for a 24 year old wingback chair is if the upholstery was modern and to my liking, and I wouldn't have to re-do it.

When we recovered our wing back chair I used two fabrics and it looks beautiful. You could use your toile on the front and on the sides and back you could use a solid fabric maybe in a solid brown or gold. You could also use the solid fabric around the sides of the cusions to give it character.

I just looked up wingback in our Seattle-Tacoma CL for you, and the prices I'm seeing are $50-$300. Apparently there isn't much agreement about what to charge. I agree on the 5-6 yards to recover it and toile would be lovely.

$80 is great if it's a well-made one with a good shape to it. Any chance of giving us the CL link so we can see it? As the #1 fan of wingback chairs, well, I just wanna see it!

I think 80 is a good price also.

It's not too much money if the chair is nice. But remember...you have to factor in your fabric costs, your upholstery costs, and your chair costs, in your total. Of course, in the greater whole, $80 is only $30 more than the $50 that is the limit in my mind for a chair that needs recovering, so if it's nice, get it.

Red

In my area, (I am in SC)I see them in ranges of $150 to 200 for a pair.
I have seen them as little at $50 to $75 each.

Having just redone my wingback chair, I supposed I'm jaded. The amount of work it took to recover it was substantial (though not extraordinarily difficult), and had I paid to have it professionally done, it would have cost me $400-500 in labor alone.

So I suppose if you have $80 in the chair, then another few hundred in fabric, plus labor, bringing the total "in" to around $630, I personally reach the point that I'd rather just buy new.

If you cover it yourself, it's obviously much less expensive.

All told, the chair I recently recovered cost me around $150.

The chair itself was $5, then I spent the rest on fabric, upholstery material, extra batting, etc.

Here are my before/afters:

About six months ago, I paid $80 for two matching Pennsylvania House wingback chairs in pretty-good condition. A scratch on one of the legs, but otherwise they were clean and nice. Pink, unfortunately... inspired by Renofan, I'm going to try my hand at recovering them sometime!

Just a note, to play devil's advocate to Renofan's comment above about buying new: if you find an old chair with a really solid frame, and then find a good deal on pretty fabric, you'll wind up with a much nicer, sturdier chair than you could ever find buying new. For $630/chair these days, you're pretty much stuck with junk -- frames of plywood or MDF, cheapo microfiber upholstery (don't flame me, I know there's nice microfiber out there and am not deprecating it -- simply saying that on a lot of midrange new furniture they don't use the nice stuff!), etc.

So, if you really like the chair and are willing to spend the money and/or time on it, you'll wind up with a very solid piece of furniture, detailed to your exact taste. That is, assuming the chair's in pretty good shape to begin with -- no wiggly joints, etc.

I agree with walkin_yesindeed, though it never hurts to make an offer, given the fact that you plan to reupholster it. If the fabric is in really poor shape or something gaudy/dated, then definitely offer less. Also, you do not say how long the chair has been listed on CL. If it's been a few days or more, then I think the seller may be more receptive to offers than it is was just listed the same day. When I sell items on CL, I do try to leave a little room for negotiating in my price, at the same time, don't want to accept a lower offer on the first day my ad is listed. I bought my used WB for $35 (asking price which I thought was a more than fair), though I understand there were others interested besides me and I was just the first one that made the trip out there. I think $60-$50 would be a fair offer. It does not hurt to offer as most likely another one will come along. You may also be able to find one at your local thrift store which is where I think reno_fan found hers.

http://montgomery.craigslist.org/fuo/1002986683.html

Here is the link but after seeing it in person I did not buy it. It had a terrible smell and did not feel like it was made well.

I will continue to look. But thanks for all the advise.

faye

If it was a Hickory Chair wingback with good bones from the James River Collection and at least 30 years old, I would expect to pay well over $100. Depends on the bones.