Hi Wally,

It would help me give you better advice if you could show me a picture before you touched it, and how it is now (the frame plus all the old padding, springs, cushion, etc.

Is your chair a real antique, or just an old chair? If you are recovering a real antique chair, I'd recommend that you read this article: Antique Reupholstery. The method I'd recommend would depend upon the advice given in that article. If you're not going to reuse the original type padding, I'd recommend retying the spings and perhaps using a 2" high quality foam over that.

If your concern is in how to tie springs, read this article: Spring Tying - How to . Unless the springs are broken, all rusted, etc. most of the time you can just reuse the old springs. If you need new springs, just do a search for "upholstery springs" on Google. For example, here is one place I found that sells Upholstery Springs . I'm not familiar with them, I buy my springs from wholesale suppliers.

I don't recommend replacing springs in an antique chair with foam. However, here is a chair that I recovered using a foam seat, which never had springs.

Best Wishes,

Stephen

[quote=Zonia ]I have a bernhardt sofa that needs pampering. It is now a discontinued item and cant purchase the insert cushion. It is to have had a "blend out #1" cushion. It is also wrapped in down feathers. I went to an upholstery shop, and they said they could order a firm rubber foam insert. What is a blend out #1 insert cushion?

Zonia
McAllen, TX[/quote]
Zonia,
the "blend out #1 cushion" sounds more like a manufacturer specific cushion, rather than a common type of cushion. Just guessing by the name, I would guess that the the cushion has a core unit (probably a rectangular box shape) that is rounded in the middle and feathers out (thins down) at the corners. This picture below is not a good example, but it will least give you a general idea of what I think it might be like:

But this is just a guess. With that said, probably, if you took the the cushion into a local upholsterer, most upholsterers should be able to duplicate the cushion, or make it in a similar shape and firmness.

Best Wishes,
Stephen

Hi Donna,
I would suggest that you use 3/4 ounce to 1 ounce bonded polyester to pad the front of the cornice. You can obtain this from most upholstery supply places.

Since you are using a damask, I would STRONGLY advise that after you put your padding in place, you first cover your fabric with a drapery lining fabric. This allows you to get the padding smooth before putting the fabric on.

Here are a few pictures of cornices that might give you some ideas.

Stephen