Over the weekend I spotted this dilapidated chair outside my building where people typically throw away their bulk items. The chair caught my eye with its vintage curves and white paint job. I debated picking it up (I had never actually picked up a piece of furniture off the curb, but here in Hawaii it's totally normal - at least that's what I kept telling myself).. I left it at first and put it in the back of my mind that it was probably more work than I wanted to put into it... I went out later that night and upon returning saw the chair was still there.. at this point it was dark, nobody was really outside and got the nerve to grab it real quick.. As I'm picking it up, someone from my building starts walking towards the elevator.. Now I have this chair on my arm that could quite possibly belonged to this neighbor.. We share the awkward elevator ride and he turns to me and says "there was a cool desk out there too".. my response, "that's ok, I just liked this vintage chair, I'm going to refurbish it and make it look cool".. End convo.. Yup, after trying to sneakily grab the chair, still was caught red-handed. Oh well. Then came Sunday which turned into my crafty little day..
Before I actually thought about documenting the process, I had already cleaned it up a bit.. I removed the top cover seat layer that resembled some sort of sun drenched tropical pattern (you could tell it had been outside for awhile), leaving a green embroidered fabric underneath which actually wasn't too bad. I wiped it clean with some 409 and hammered the top back rest into place (it was coming apart from the chair) then glued together this huge crack on the seat that went down the leg of the chair. I left it for a few hours to adhere together.. that's when the documenting started:
Armed with materials I had purchased from Walmart and Ben Franklin (craft store) were one yard of pretty white slightly textured fabric, a staple gun, staples, a handheld sand paper cube, white paint, and a matte finishing coat. Also note I had never refurbished anything before..
I removed the seat with a hammer and sprayed down the green seat cover with cleaning supplies and put it aside to dry.. I used my sandpaper all over in hopes the paint would stick to it better and clean it up a bit more.. I then began the painting process.. It didn't have to be perfect because I wanted it to have this old fashioned vintage feel where it looked "lived in" but modern at the same time. I put two fresh coats followed by the matte finishing topper (I didn't want glossy because I felt like that would take away from the rustic appearance..)
I let it dry while I worked on the seat cover. I loaded the staple gun and placed the layered fabric perfectly square around the seat base and started folding it while stapling.. It was quite fun actually and I probably got carried away with the number of staples I actually used, but at least that fabric isn't going anywhere!
So this is where I didn't completely finish the job.. since I layered the fabric so much (I didn't cut any of the yardage), it was super thick, which meant two things, it was going to be super comfy to sit on, but that I somehow had to fit it back into the chair. I removed the old nails that were screwed into the seat to the chair because they were rusty and I didn't want to break the bottom of the seat. SOOOOO, I hammered the seat back into place on the corners which worked out that because it was so thick, it wasn't going to move out of place.. I also didn't really intend on people sitting in the chair unless it was necessary.. But I completed this look by placing it with my antlers I purchased off
Etsy.. I think I just pulled off my first refurbished piece of furniture!!
Hmmmmmm, what new piece can I find now to restore?!
