Here is one of the chairs before the restoration project began in April 1999. At this stage, the whole suite was in a very poor condition with broken legs, backs and seat rails. The chairs’ backs had been altered in height and the gold on their legs had been repaired many times with a variety of finishes.

All of the chairs had been recovered many times before so this is not the original eighteenth century fabric. They had also been stuffed much more than suited their frames.

Restoration experts began by removing the old fabric, revealing damage to this chair’s frame and legs.

Here, a large gap in the frame is visible and you can see where the gilding has chipped away.

You can see here that blocks have been added to the corners of the frame and where the legs have been repaired before with screws, nails and glue.

Here you can see where new timber has previously been added to the chair’s legs to strengthen them.

The chair’s side rails had been damaged by woodworm and nails over the years.

To add support to the chair’s wobbly legs, wooden pegs had been put through its joints. These were carefully knocked out, but their position marked so that they could be put back in place when the chair was reassembled.

All nail holes in the chair’s frame were filled with glue and sawdust.

The holes were then covered with glued canvas.

Next, new timber was added to the chair’s frame and tenons were cut.

The chair’s legs were then glued and held in a vice to hold them in place while the glue dried.

Here you can see the whole of the frame clamped together.

After the chair frame had been put back together, the edges were covered with glued canvas.

The many layers of gold leaf or gilding that had been applied on top of the legs’original finish were carefully removed with spatulas and scalpels, using a special solution, to reveal the fine detail in the original gesso.

As the layers of gilding were stripped, the fine detail in the original gessowork became more defined.

The bare wood that had been revealed was thoroughly cleaned by being scraped with sharp tools.

Previous repairs to the gesso were then removed before the cleaned wood was primed with a new layer of hot, thin gesso.

Further layers of gesso were applied to match the depth of the original.

Smaller areas of gesso with a more putty-like texture were then applied and shaped with spatulas.

Fine detail was carved into the new gesso to match the original decoration.

The carved detail included images of flowers, fruit and shells.

After the experts had finished carving, the new work was smoothed using sandpaper and wet rags.

All of the bare gesso was then sealed with a coat of yellow ochre and rabbit-skin glue.

A coloured clay was then created to match the colour of the original bole used. Three to four coats of the new clay were applied over the yellow ochre.

A new layer of 23.5-carat gold leaf was painted over the entire surface of the legs.

To finish off the frame and legs, an antique-style finish was given to the completed gilding by carefully wearing away some of the gold.

A darker pigment was also used to add tone to the finish.

Finally, the chair was reupholstered, using traditional methods and materials.

Note that the finished chair is now covered in green fabric. This was chosen, in consultation with English Heritage, to better match the current décor of Number 10’s state rooms.

The 2003 film Love Actually, which was partly set in Downing Street, featured copies of the chairs…but mistakenly with the old, red covers.

The chairs now live in the Pillared Room at Number 10, which is used when international agreements are being signed, or as the main area for receptions.

This chair was in a particularly bad state and had to be taken completely apart so that it could be repaired.

Here you can see the poor condition of the chair’s frame. It had been damaged by nails and woodworm and the gilding had chipped away.

You can see further extensive damage to the legs and frame here.

The legs had been poorly repaired in the past and the remaining gesso was wearing away.

After being cleaned, the extent of the damage to the side rails was fully revealed.

Here, you can see the damage that had been done to the back of the legs.

This closer view demonstrates the extent that the gesso had worn away.

The next stage of the process was to remove the old layers of gilding.

After removing the old gilding, it was then decided that as the remaining gesso was so badly damaged, rather than redoing it in patches, all of it would have to be removed.

The chair was stripped back to bare wood.

Missing carved areas were replaced with new timber before being carved to match the original.

Here you can see the new wood being added to the frame.

The chair then had to be completely recovered with gesso.

Here’s a chair leg after it had been recovered in new gesso.

Fine detail was recreated by being carved into the new gesso.

The gesso was painted with yellow ochre and rabbit-skin glue.

A type of clay called bole was then applied over the top, before the chair was gilded with 24.5-carat gold leaf.

Before being reupholstered, the legs and frames were distressed and toned to give them an antique look.

And here are the chairs and sofas as they are now in the Pillared Room.