Gold Dipped Armchairs {AKA- The Chairs That Made Me Cry}

I sell most of the furniture I make-over, so I don't typically share the price I originally bought it for. Some pieces I net a fat profit,  and some I barely break even. I don't want my buyers to see what I paid for the piece and think "Hey, I'm paying 5 times that! I got ripped off!" There are other materials and LOTS of labor to consider. Some pieces require a LOT of labor. These chairs happen to fall into that category. 

I will happily share that I picked them up for $5 each. Solid bentwood chairs for $5! I found a church that was clearing out a storage unit. They had literally, dozens of this and a different style chair. The other style is a high-back, dining chair. I picked up a set of 6 to pair with a table in my garage. (You can see them in the background)

They were in almost perfect condition. Just in need of a serious update! I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

 First, I removed the cushions, cleaned the frame and lightly sanded the wood. The frames then received several coats of black lacquer, giving them a smooth, high gloss finish. I then taped off the feet and brushed on 4 or 5 coats of metallic gold paint, giving them a "dipped" look. The whole frames where then sprayed with 3 coats of gloss lacquer.

Time to upholster the cushions.

I'll skip  reupholstering the seat cushion. I think everyone has at least seen that done before. Its pretty straight forward.

Once both seats were done, it was time to tackle the backs. I've upholstered chair backs before. You can see how I did a one here. Thinking this would go quickly, I saved this step for the night before I was to deliver my furniture to the doomed boutique. I chose poorly.

I started by busting out a cheap flat-head screwdriver, and shoving it in the seam between the welt (upholstery name for piping) and the fabric.

I wiggled them apart revealing my new worst enemy, flexible tack strip. It definitely has a purpose in the upholstery realm, but it is covered in nasty, sharp (probably tetanus covered) teeth and is a pain in the rump.

Remember when I said I thought this process would be easy? Well, I didn't realize that  the guy who put these backs together had a major love affair with staples, and obviously doesn't want his work screwed with. Admittedly, if I had a real staple remover and not just a dull screwdriver, the task wouldn't have been as bad. 

I stripped off each layer (removing copious amounts of staples holding each), down to the wood frame and making sure to save the evil crap tack strip. 

At that point, the back frames got the same paint treatment as the rest of the body and allowed to dry. 

Using the original fabric pieces as a pattern, I cut out my new upholstery from some cool black and white fabric I picked up from Joann's on sale. 

Next, I started to put everything back together. I followed the same steps I took to disassemble it, only in reverse. This is when things became stressful (explaining the lack of photos at this point). 

I did replace the foam for the seat backs. The foam was in okay shape, but due to the ridiculous amount of staples holding it down, it got a little maimed on the way out. That wasn't the hard part. 

The hard part was when it was 11 PM, I'm exhausted and it was time to reattach the metal tack strip. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that I hate my electric staple gun. I really do. I won't even bother to mention the brand at this time. Its bulky and powerless. 

You see those little holes? Well, you are supposed to fire at least one staple through each hole, anchoring it down to the wood below. Ready for your mind to be blown? Hardwood... is hard (I know, who would have guessed?). So, when you have a crappy, powerless, staple gun and you can't see the hole you are supposed to be lined up with, it causes difficulty to say the least. 

In fact, I had a 6" bruise on my shoulder for a week where I repeatedly pressed against the stupid staple gun, putting pressure on the back and begging it to fire. Hours later, I called it "good enough".

The next morning, I drug myself out of bed and put everything together. Here's what they ended up looking like.

I actually love the way they turned out. My favorite part is the gold paint dipped feet.

The welt around the backs is a little wonky in a couple spots. It was either the welt or my fingertips. My fingertips won. Its not so bad. Most people would never notice. Though being a perfectionist, I don't like looking at this photo.

In general, I'm really proud with how they turned out. I love the whole look.

Now the really sad part. 

One of these chairs was soaked at the doomed boutique. Apparently, some of the hardware from the tent must have rusted and poured red, rusty water all over the upholstery. When I can scrounge up some more of this fabric, its going to have to be completely re-done. My finger tips are already hurting.

Oh, well. They looked really pretty at my booth before the rain, and I get to share them with you fine people!



Linking at:

Common Ground

Pewter Herringbone Dresser Tutorial

This is my favorite piece I made for the doomed boutique last weekend. Here's what it looked like before.

Anyone who refinishes furniture probably has come across a little dresser just like this at some point. Beautiful, solid wood, but a bit on the orange side and screaming 1980's French reproduction. I decided to try some metallic paint.

I've seen some amazing furniture make-overs using Modern Masters metallic paints, but haven't been able to find any locally. Its still on my "must try" list. In the meantime, I found a pretty pewter color from Martha Stewart at Home Depot.

The first step was to sand down the drawer faces.

 Once all the old finish and stain was gone, I wiped on one coat of Antique Walnut stain by Minwax. After it was completely dry, using a measuring tape, I found the center and ran a strip of painter's tape horizontally.

I dealt with the top half first.

Next, was time to bust out the speed square. If you don't have one, get one. They are SUPER cheap (like $1 at Harbor Freight) and are pretty much essential if you want to build anything square. I talk about it here.

I wanted my diagonal lines to be at a 45 degree angle, so the speed square made things really easy. I just started at where the drawer edge and the tape intersected, lined up my square and drew a line with pencil. 

The next step was to slide the square down so the inside of the bar lined up with my pencil mark and draw another line. I repeated the process of ascribing the inside and outside of the bar, sliding all the way down the drawer face.

When I was done, it looked like this.

Time for more tape. I simply filled in every-other section with tape, and made sure to tape around the outside edges. For clean tape lines, make sure to really press the tape down and maybe even use a scraper to rub the edges.

I brushed on 2 coats of  paint and immediately pulled off the tape. Once I had allowed it to dry for several hours (depending on the paint, you may need to wait overnight), I repeated the process with the square and pencil lines to the other half of the drawer face.

I then filled in the opposing sections with tape. This took a little concentration and peeking under to tape to make sure I was covering the right section. I painted another 2 coats of paint, pulled off the tape, and allowed it to dry thoroughly.

Several hours later, I taped of the front of the drawer face, and brushed 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint around the outside edge.

The body of the dresser got 1 coat of primer and 3 coats of paint, brushed on. I then sealed everything in 3 coats of semi-gloss PolyAcrylic by Minwax.

I added some glass knobs I found at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, and here is the final result.

I wanted simple hardware that wouldn't distract from the herringbone pattern. I like the bit of sparkle the glass brings. In real life, the wood is a much cooler, almost grey brown. 

I was really happy with the way the metallic paint applied. It seemed to self-level and hide brush strokes.

So what do you think? I'd say it's a pretty big improvement for this little, ho-hum dresser.

I felt pretty confident taking this to the boutique, but unfortunately, it was one of the pieces damaged by my collapsing tent during the rain, so it didn't sell.

 Its not too bad, just a couple of chips on the top. I'll be able to fill them in and paint over it without too much difficulty. I had the thought of putting it in my boys' room, but then I decided it was WAY too special to me to have it destroyed. So, once its fixed up I'll list it on craigslist.

Have you ever fixed up something that's too nice for your own house? haha


Linking at:

Common Ground
Remodelaholic