I have always been fascinated by Louis Vuitton trunks. I remember the first time I encountered an original. I was walking through the Scotts Antique Market (circa 2009) in Atlanta, Georgia. I saw the trunk and immediately fell in love. I asked how much and the guy said $6000.00 usd. That’s expensive, even for me today. It was definitely out of the budget then… Though I told myself if I ever encountered one for a reasonable cost and in decent condition again, I would buy it.
To no surprise at all … the prices on the trunks continued to rise. That trunk today (depending on the store and location) is selling for about $25,000-$30,000 usd. You can find them cheaper at auctions if you put in the time to search. I’m not the best at searching auctions and bidding sadly. For me, it’s usually site unseen and that’s not a comforting way to buy an item this expensive, even with the great photographs offered.
Over time I became more and more enamored with the original trunks. I eventually bought a faux duffle bag in Chinatown (New York City). It was one of the more sketchy dealings I have had. lol. They guy was standing on a street corner offering his wears. He showed me a laminated sheet of paper, I selected the goods, he told me the price, and about 10 mins later a woman was walking towards me with essentially a black trash bag with my faux Louis Vuitton bag. This lady displayed the bag on a street vendor’s table as discreetly as possible. Little did I understand at the time, her selling this product was illegal and so was my purchase. oops!
If you have not ever purchased an item in chinatown – I would say the experience is certainly worth it. I find it hilarious, even today. In the end, I took the bag home and used it a few times. It was total shit, again, as to be expected. I eventually tossed it at the back of a closet and forgot about it.
A few years passed and it was 2013. I was on my first trip to Italy. In the most amazing city that I could have chosen to visit, Florence! I fell in love with Italy on that trip. My husband tells me that I have this thing with ‘Horcruxes‘ (If you are a harry potter fan you will understand). Everytime I go on a trip I purchase an item that reminds me of where I have been. For this trip my horcrux was an authentic Louis Vuitton Bag. I remember the moment like it was yesterday. One of the things I loved about my purchase was receiving a welcome magazine from Louis Vuitton. I still have the magazine, welcoming me to the “club”, that arrived from the Florence store to my home in Denver.
Now that I had the authentic bag I realized the faux item could be thrown away. Though I got inspired by my love of trunks and found this serving table to recover. The original serving table was solid wood and had no fabric on it. The brass was heavily tarnished and I had never recovered furniture before. Long story short – I started by deconstructing the faux bag at the seems. I wrapped the table and took a heavy gauge staple gun to secure the fabric before placing the brass hardware back on the table.
As you can see from the images above. It really was a hack job of refinishing. The faux bag had plastic ‘feet’ that i had to remove. Once the feet were removed, it left holes on the top of the table. The fabric also did not completely cover the sides. I had to use the internal lining to stable over the bottom and sides. This serving table ended up sitting in a work room and guest bedroom for the next few years. Hiding from everyone’s line of site because of the shit job I did. lol
Once we moved to Italy in 2021 and I pulled the table out of storage – I swore I would redo this and make it as ‘authentic’ as possible. That is when I started researching where I could purchase ‘authentic’ fabric. Turns out, you cannot buy authentic fabric but you can purchase high quality fabric from china. (Maybe one day I will be able to afford the real item). I originally found the supplier on Etsy. When I went to purchase the item, the store had been taken down. I am not sure if this was the stores decision or etsy for selling faux products. Either way I found the supplier again and even though I was a bit skeptical at first, the product that arrived was just amazing!
Once I found the fabric, I needed to find the leather trim. I wanted the trim that was used for the original trunks. It is Leather with stenciled LV monograms. I did find something similar from the same fabric supplier. Though it was cheaply made unlike the actual canvas/vinyl fabric pictured here. I decided against using the faux trim and found a leather supply shop instead. I ordered a piece of veg tan leather and cut this to cap the edges. If completed correctly this would be a perfect high quality finish to my serving table.
As I started redoing this piece, I ripped the old fabric off and removed all the old staples. Then I sanded the top finish of the chair down. I knew that I would need to use some type of glue for the fabric to adhere to the table, like the trunks. Sanding the table enabled my glue to hold better than just spraying it on top of a finishing polish. The glue I used is Ambro-Sol I254 Colla Multiuso Permanente. This product worked very well for me.
Once I sprayed the wood, I aligned the fabric to keep the pattern straight. Then pressed firmly down to secure the fabric to the table. I went over the fabric once it was down with a scraper. This tool helps remove the air bubbles that may be trapped between the glue and the fabric. You want to do this fairly quickly while the glue is still wet. If it dries before you scrape along the fabric you will have to remove the entire piece of fabric and start again. Remember not to press so hard you damage the fabric. Press just firm enough to push the trapped air to the edges.
After you get the fabric on the table you need to let it dry. Follow the directions on your glue but I let my table sit overnight. As you can see in the above picture, if you cut the fabric correctly it should almost be seamless on the edges. Though you will always have an unfinished edge. A real Louis Vuitton would never display any unfinished side. This is where the leather trimming comes in.
Once I was ready for the leather finishing edge, you need a sharp box cutter and a cutting mat. My cutting mat is designed for leather working so it has measurements on it (pictured above). You can also use a measuring tape. You will need to cut four pieces in the exact same size with straight edges. Make sure to cut the edges long enough that it wraps under your table. I did a “dry fit” by placing the edges over the corners first. Once you have an idea of how the edges fit, tape off the sides to protect the LV fabric that will not be under the leather. You will be spraying glue if you use my above recommendation. You do not want to get glue on the fabric that is not going to be covered.
Once you have all the corners taped off, take one corner at a time. do another dry fit and mark on the back of the leather where it hits the bottom corner of the table. You will use your box cutter again to cut a V shaped wedge into the bottom leather. This is how your corners will get the perfect fit without excess fabric.
Once the cutting is complete, spray the glue just on the exposed corner section of the LV fabric. Make sure not to get excess past your tape lines. Press your leather down. It should secure fairly quickly. The V you cut should also line up at the bottom of your tables edge and fold in neatly. You can stop here if that is your desired look. For me, I wanted to finish off my table with brass nails. It’s a lot of measuring and trying your best to keep the nails in line and equally spaced apart. Though if you manage to get it correct your finished product will be stunning, if I do say so myself…
I did not refinish the base of the table because I wanted this to appear aged. Though I may end up redoing the base as well. Let us know if you redo a table with fabric or if you have questions during your restoration/renovations. I hope you love our table as much as we do!
I love how you’ve put this piece together, so creative and look forward to more pieces from you especially a written piece about your town house in Italy.