Pull up a chair...and another...and another...

I have a thing about chairs...and tables...unfortunately, I am running out of room.  But I can't help myself...I see an old battered and abused chair and I KNOW it can be beautiful again. ​

A few of these you have seen...but I thought I would share a few more.  As I have mentioned before, I was DIYing before it became vogue so I have many pieces I don't even have "before" pictures of...I just brought them home and did my thing....​

I think I bought this little guy at a garage sale for $5.  Can't even remember what kind of fabric it had on it, but I bought it when I was remodeling my youngest son's room after he went off to college (it was the last room to get laminate...hence the green carpet)  The oak frame was in pretty bad shape, but a little cleaning, stripping and tung oil spruced it right up and the alligator vinyl is just awesome!​

Another apartment find...I remember it had orange vinyl and was in pretty bad shape...walnut maybe?  Again, strip and oil!  The seat was VERY uncomfortable so I added 4" foam and batting.  I expected the fabric to be "funky and whimsical" but it actually turned out kind of nifty looking and is perfect in my den!  What was really interesting about this chair was the little plaque I found on the underside....

Every piece has a story...I just wonder how this little guy made it all the way to Arkansas from a bank in Galveston, Texas!

I told you at one time my taste was more "traditional."  I loved antiques....I bought a mahogany dining set at an antique store 18 years ago...I think it is all I have left of "that phase."  I have six of these chairs and the table...absolutely beautiful wood. I know a lot of people are painting these now, but I just can't! Over the years I have stripped and oiled them and just recently changed the seat cushions...again.  Nice thing about these chairs...the seat fabric are easy to change when your style changes!  I keep eying the "mid century modern" sets floating around but I'm just not ready to turn loose of this set!​ Yet!

I found this nasty little oak creature when we were cleaning out a house...a little cleanup, Kilz and green and white paint and it is now a sweet little desk chair at Kaitlyn's!  Sometimes you have to be willing to look past the grunge!​

I have no idea where this chair came from.  I do know it has been in my attic since I moved here 13 years ago, and I remember moving it around for many years prior to that!   When I remodeled my office, I searched high and low for the perfect chair! 

One day I found this lurking in the back corner of my attic and I pulled it down with the intention of cleaning it up and painting it.  But after stripping away all the ​nastiness I found a beautiful mahogany chair...so I put 4 coats of tung oil on it and recovered the seat....sometimes the very treasures we are looking for are hiding behind our Christmas decorations...lol!​

There was a reason this chair was 1/2 off at a thrift store...but I saw potential!  And I think it had a little!  ( I will not mention the horrendous mistake I made during the construction of the cushion because no one but me probably notices that a very important element of the fabric design is JUST ALL WRONG and is the perfect example of mistakes one can make even when they are being VERY careful and SOMEDAY when I have an extra 4 hours to spare I will redo the cushion...until then, I just keep hoping nobody notices!​  Grrrrrrr! )

I have posted these along the way...but they are just reminders of my obsession with chairs.  And it doesn't stop inside.  In my yard I have built two swing pergolas, one large patio pergola and have started collecting the old metal lawn chairs from the 50s and 60s...I may be constantly moving, but when it is time to plant it, I want something awesome to plant it on!!!!

And last but certainly not least, my dad's walnut chair.  It is currently sitting in the corner of my room and 

every day I look at it and wonder what upholstery will do it justice.​  I've looked for fabric several times and I just haven't found "it."  I will...one day a fabric will just "jump out at me."  And it will be perfect.  Until then.....

Doing a project "right" is about being patient...taking your time..sometimes waiting for the inspiration! 

The Houndstooth chair

Sagging seat, flappy arms, wobbly legs...getting old sucks.  This old girl had seen better days and took some serious gluing and clamping!  But after this facelift, she was one hot piece!

Off with its head...or upholstery...either one!

I promised to tell you the story of this sad little chair.​

I bought it YEARS ago at an estate auction.  I paid to have it reupholstered...​lots if I remember correctly.  And 15-20 years ago, the green fabric and the style was to my liking. 

But over the last few years, I have matured a tad and my taste has become more refined.  Okay, so I changed my mind about what I like and don't like.  Regardless, I didn't like it any more and I didn't want it.​

So, on Craigslist it went.  But for some reason, this pathetic little chair didn't seem to appeal to anyone...not even a little nibble. So one day in one of my manic "I CAN'T TAKE THIS CRAP AROUND HERE ANY MORE" moods, I picked it up to haul it to the curb.  See, in my neighborhood, if you set something on the curb of ANY value, it will be gone within an hour...I have done that with cabinets, vanity tops, light fixtures, furniture.  Gone.  Awesome.  Until you realize you could have taken it to Goodwill and gotten a tax write-off...but whatever.​

But then I got to thinking...if I can sew on a button and make a decorative pillow, why can't I upholster a chair?​

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Seriously, what sane person thinks like that.​

Obviously ME!  Because that is exactly what I did.  I stripped the little thing naked, taking hundreds of pictures along the way, bought the amount of upholstery the little chart told me to buy for this style chair, Googled "how to upholstery a chair", found a great tutorial...and settled in to complete a project I was certain would take me a day at the most.  Lets just say, it took me MORE than a day just to get all the stinking nails and staples out of the thing.  I can't even remember how long it actually took to finish the job entirely. (My youngest daughter agreed to help initially but quit when her hands began to bleed...not me, I'm a trooper!)

This is now my little reading corner in my office...okay, so its really the cats' chair, but it looks good.  And a few side notes on the other items...the table is one of my Lane Acclaim tables I truly LOVE and adore...and buy whenever I can find one affordable. Hard to see, but on the bottom shelf are old wooden tape measures and a wooden level that were my great grandfathers and an old hand tooled leather briefcase that was my grandfathers. The wall is adorned with "things I love" as well....two original works of art by very talented artists (okay, my kids, but they are beautiful), my college diploma (nice to know it has some use) a cross stitch picture I did for my dad 20 years ago for Father's Day, and a picture of my BFF (my better half, Brian) and me on one of our first ski trips together! Things I love!​ The neeto mirror was a clearance at Hobby Lobby and the sweet little crystal lamp is a TJMaxx find!  And the red lantern was $1 at the thrift store and is filled with sea shells I picked up in California! 

Oh, and the pillow?  It was a lady's houndstooth jacket I bought at the thrift store for $2 and cut up for a pillow....sweet!​

And now you know the story of the sad little green chair that was headed for the curb when a demented women thought she could actually turn it into something beautiful....see, this stuff isn't hard...it just takes a bit of imagination and a tad of insanity! ​

Dad's Walnut Chair....

Still trying to get my cyberlegs....so bare with me while I try to post one of my newest projects.  As I get use to this stuff, I will go back and post some older projects.  You will see I have a "thing" for chairs and tables...sad really, because I really have no place left to stick them in the house.  So many are shipped off to my children's homes where I know they will not be loved and adored like they are here...but whatever.​

My Mom told me that when I was a baby (MANY years ago...almost 50) she and Dad found this walnut chair in a field...the wood was bleached white but Dad knew it was walnut...his favorite (and now mine)!  So he took it home and refinished it.  And for almost 50 years it has been in our family.​

Recently I was able to acquire (sneak out in the dead of night) this beautiful chair.  It was somewhat nicked and bruised from years of use, and I am not sure what my father was thinking the last time he covered it in the ungodly upholstery and nail heads.  But I brought it home, stripped the upholstery and finish and lovingly nourished it with 4 coats of tung oil. ​

As you will learn if you continue to follow me, I have a "thing" for tung ​oil.  Being new to the "cyber world" I am not sure if I can tell you what BRAND I use, but suffice it to say it is with the stains and such in Lowes and it comes in a GREEN can.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stuff.   Dang near impossible to mess up a refinishing job with it.  I usually put 3-4 coats, lightly sanding between coats with OOOO steel wool and tack cloth.  I have a SERIOUS addiction to Lane Acclain tables, and this is how I refinish them...and now I use it on all my wood furniture.

The reason I love this stuff....super easy to "touch up" scratches and wear.  It doesn't create the "plastic" finish of a poly, but it allows the grain of the wood to shine through and if you get a scratch or nick, you just buff it with steel wool and then recoat the affected area with the tung oil.  Seriously, LOVE this stuff.  And unlike poly, it is next to impossible to mess up the application....but more on that later.​

For now, the chair....I have finished refinishing the wood, but haven't been inspired on the upholstery just yet.  I am thinking something light...maybe a "white"...since the ONLY corner I have left in the house is in my bedroom...and it will not be subjected to food or grandkids...now the cats, that's another story for another time.  ​

Between the cats, chairs, and tables...oh my. ​

​Anywho....drum roll for my first picture post!!!!!   (drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)​

​Okay, well that didn't go well....the "before" picture is AFTER the "after" pictures....whatever, you get the idea. (fixed it...don't ask me how!)

Now, I just have to find the PERFECT upholstery....and decide between piping or nails...hummmmmm....