Chairs galore!!

My obsession with chairs has crossed a line...I am on serious chair overload! 

Right now I have 6 chairs in my garage that need refinishing and reupholstery, 3 wood chairs I need to paint and two upholstered slipper chairs that don't really need any work, but have no home!

INSANITY!!!! 

But I feel like I scored major on two walnut mid-century chairs!   I found then on Craigslist and getting these made me feel better about the awesome dresser I missed out on!

These chairs are in awesome condition and the cane backing has VERY minimal damage.  That is difficult to find. 

Most would paint these puppies all "shabby chic" and apply a whimsical fabric...but they are solid walnut and in my opinion, should NEVER be painted!   

Due to my not so great photography skills, it may be difficult to see a huge difference before and after refinishing...but there is!  I stripped off the old "muddy" finish and applied a dark walnut stain to even and enhance the color...then I applied the tung oil!

Now I just need to do the other and decide whether or not I want to change the upholstery on the cushions! The cushions are zippered and no real harm could be done making new cushion covers and just changing it out!

I love the mid century style which is one of the reasons I picked up these little slipper type chairs at an auction a while back... 

My biggest problem with all these projects is the upholstery.  I know I can do it because my first major project was a doozy and it turned out pretty nifty! (see here

I just have a tough time figuring out exactly what upholstery to use on these projects.  

I get stuck...it's almost like picking out paint colors...only paint is cheaper and easier to change if you make a mistake.  

I painted this wicker chair...not sure if I am crazy about the color but I know I can easily change it!  The prep and repair work and priming is all done which is what takes so much time on the wicker furniture!

So the upholstery chairs sit in my garage....the four mid century, an old wing back and a vintage lounge chair...all staring at me and waiting for me to figure out what I need to do to bring them back to life!  

Upholstery is a lot of work...hard work...and it can be expensive when you factor in the cost of fabric, backing, padding, etc. (there is a reason it costs so much to have a piece professionally reupholstered)  

So it is important to be patient and wait til something speaks to you.  EVENTUALLY you will find the perfect fabric!   

I'm trying to be patient...