LIttle Chair, All Grown Up

Little Chair, Little Chair, what do you think? Do you feel lighter than air, fresh as a daisy, spic 'n span?

I really feel good that this project is done! (See previous posting for "before" photos.) Sometimes our projects develop an unfinished life of their own so it can be an accomplishment to finish a big one. Little chair might not seem like a big project but it was scary since I was borrowing a (new to me) paint treatment shared by Miss Mustard Seed and having a first go at reupholstery. And this was a gut job - stripped right down to the frame, where there are actually now four different hues of paint. This takes time, but really adds character to the wood.

Little Chair is going with us and will be up for sale at the Funky Junk Antique Show next Saturday and Sunday, April 9-10. Come say Hi!

I added a chocolate velvet damask fabric to the back.

And now I'm excited to work on two or three other awesome chairs that have been patiently waiting their turn. They'll have to roll the dice to see who gets the new, amazing fabric I found online for one of them...

Little Chair, Little Chair...

What is your past?
Who built you? Who first took you home and made you their own?
Were you a country chair or a city chair?
How long did you languish ruined and forgotten in a barn? A garage? A basement?

Jon and I are always curious about some of the old stuff we find. You know how sometimes when you are shopping or "picking" you see something that you snatch up without hesitation?
A while back, we found this chair and I immediately liked its lines and curves and brought it home.

Then followed 18 months of sitting out in our garage. Waiting. Sorry, Little Chair. Now you are helping me learn some new tricks. Reupholstery. New paint techniques. You are going to be beautiful again!

As you can see, this chair is still a work in progress. But all the nasty fabric and stuffing (along with the 5 million little tack nails!) are gone and its had a good scrubbing. Time for the fun part...
I don't now how wise it is to write a tutorial on something I've never done before, but follow along as I share this project with you. More to come...

Warning! These are not glamour shots.

Foof? What foof?

Knowing we are always looking for furniture to rehab, our son in law, Andy, offered us his old nightstand which he'd used all throughout his childhood. Originally a brown wood stain, it had seen better days with its surface scarred, water stained and well used. Despite this, it was easy to recognize its good "bones" and interesting details, so we accepted it and gave it an "extreme makeover". I thought someone might enjoy a fun, Frenchy look on this table. It could now take a respectful place in a bedroom or any room of the house.

Oh yes, Andy is a modern, no frills or foof kind of guy... do you think he'd like it back?

-Linda

Stool Pigeon

It's an old idea. Take a vintage piece of furniture - in this case a small stool - then paint it to give it new life. Simple, right? When we bought it, the stool was covered with a dusty, crusted yellow paint which came off on my hands. My wife wanted this specific look that she had seen somewhere. As often happens in these sort of cases, the challenge is communication of what she wants from her brain to mine. I thought, "Sure, I'll repaint the stool for her, no problem." Little did I know that this small project will require sanding, priming, two coats of base color, black accents requiring both taping (the stripes) and hand painting (both stripes and dots), then a very carefully applied glaze, then a clear coat. I think I may have been suckered. Not that Linda would ever do that to me - of course not.

It was more work than I thought it would be, but I'll admit it was fun as well. I always enjoy doing things I haven't done before. However, unless we end up selling it to a multi-millionaire with a highly developed sense of the ridiculous, there is no way I can come close to recouping my cost in time spent. But I guess that would probably be true of most things I fix up. I try not to look too closely at the bottom line, being afraid of what I'll see. I'm not the only one, am I?

I wish I had thought ahead far enough to take a "before" picture, but here is the "after".

What do you think?
-Jon