H&M St Charles Chairs

[midcenturymod]

Hi Duane

After much time pondering, and following what's in the Forum, I'm getting ready to order a couple of Hancock & Moore St Charles chairs, model 4500. I'd appreciate it if you could give me some advice. I'm a single guy living alone, with no pets or kids at home, so the chairs would not get heavy use, and most of the use would be adults. There would only be kids bouncing on the chairs when they come to visit. I'm looking at red leathers. Olde English Rust and Bari Lipstick are at the top of my list. Both are Class III, unprotected leathers. I love the look of Capri Claret, but the red color is not deep enough. Antelope Claret is too dark, and in the sample I saw, the two-tone coloring had an unnatural looking spot in it. Is there anything I need to consider to help me choose a leather? I'll ask for a cutting for approval. If more than one hide is needed, will I get a cutting from each?
I'm curious. What kind of wood would the legs be made of. I'll choose one of the mahogany shades or Sandalwood, Townsend or Cordovan.
I figure my biggest maintenance issue will be the oils from contact, especially head and hair. What's the best way to handle that? The room the chairs will be in has windows facing East. Would I be wise to cover the windows with film to limit fading?
Thanks for any help you can give me.

Tom

[drcollie]

Hi Tom,

In the leathers you are looking at, the red tones vary greatly from batch to batch, as they do in most all anilines. Reds are particularly susceptible to color lot variances. Old English tends to show surface scratches some, so make sure you like that 'look'. Bari is a 'pebbly' leather, so you have to like that as well. Take a look at the Equestrian series as well - there's a good red in that group (Same as the H&M Website lead red leather sofa photo on their website). Capri claret can be fairly vivid but its a very rich and one of my personal favorites - it more or less blows all the others right out of the water. i have a Miller Recliners in my store, both the two Capri reds and they're very luxurious.

Cuttings for approval will delay your order an average of one month. In most cases I don't recommend doing them for new purchases, typically they are best used when trying to match an existing piece or replacing a damaged seat cushion, etc. However its your call and you certainly can do that. You will only get one cutting from the batch, however.

The wood on those chairs is maple.

Keeping the leather clean is as simple as wiping down with a damp rag. There are different levels of cleaning you can do, but it need not be more complicated than that.

Sun-fade. If a newer home, you may have UV coated windows. If not, then options included having solar film applied to the windows, draping a coverlet over the piece when the sun if playing on it, or spraying the piece with the SPF 80 sun-fade preventative from Leather Magic.