Antique Chair Revival

It's time for another makeover! Each month, our "Furniture Refresh" group takes a piece of furniture and refreshes it into a new life. You never know what we come up with! 

I was excited to redo this antique Windsor style chair I found at a flea market in the Hudson Valley. It's one of my favorite places to go for great farmhouse things. I scored with the chair, an antique cast iron bell, and an old milk box. 

There were several chairs available but this cutie caught my eye. 

Those spindles are so slim, crooked, and just plain sweet. Even though the chair was banged up quite a bit, I could envision it refinished to remain old looking. 

Normally any beat up piece with cracks could be filled in, sanded, then painted. But this chair deserved to show its years by leaving all of the scars exposed. 

A fan back American Windsor like this dates into the 1700's. If it survived this long, why not show it? 

So I sanded it. A lot. But not too crazy in the creases and cracks. Allowing the old paint to accentuate all of them. Including a lot of old wormholes. 

After becoming impatient with sanding, I cleaned the dust off, rubbed in coconut oil to condition the wood, then used a dark antique wax to seal the whole chair. It brought back the true identity. 

A few of the spindles were previously broken and repaired. And done well, as they were holding up. (Probably why the chair was painted.) The dark wax shows where the breaks were. Wormholes are all over the hand carved seat and they actually look amazing. 

Check out these handmade spindles. A bit crooked, but so fascinating! 

In fact the whole backrest is bit off. Like, it became twisted. 

The cracks are really obvious with the paint removed. 

Surprisingly, the chair is sturdy despite its age. 

I'm a sucker for antiques like this and believe they should be refinished if they can. Although it isn't valuable because of its condition, it sure is handsome; war wounds and all. 

With all of its scars and age lines, it's very functional. 

And it displays plenty of character. 

Sitting there all twisted and crooked, it fits into our home just fine. 

It will sit in our dining room as an accent piece. Used when necessary. After all, being a couple hundred years old, it should rest. After several more polishings, it should continue to shine in its own glory. 

Well, that's my makeover of the month. Let's see what the other group members did with their crazy amazing talent!! 

Here are the before photos: 

Click on the blogs to see the finished outcome: 

A Purdy Little House

Our Crafty Mom

Michelle James Designs

Redo It Yourself Inspirations

Shelstring

Chairs! Recycled and Upcycled Inspiration

I bought these oak chairs at a consignment shop. The frames were fantastic, but the seats weren't in best condition. So, I replaced the rush with leather belts. You can see how I did it here.

Chairs.

We need them for one reason or another. Dining, accent, desk, vanity, porch, or any decor statement, chairs can become a passion. Used chairs in fair to best condition, sometimes outdated, are at thrift shops, online sales, yard sales, and flea markets. We usually buy them as is or to make them our own.
And, we often find chairs curbside that are badly damaged. If you look outside the box, they can be saved.

I found this one on the curb in deplorable shape, but transformed it from a totally different style into a fake antique. The tutorial is posted here.

Okay, but, what about broken chairs or parts?  Those pieces have great potential as well!

Check out this dreamy chair back repurpose by Angie at  Knick of Time. I didn't see a chalkboard coming. Yet, wow! It's just one of her many creations and you can see some of them here.

Another amazing salvage rescuer is Gail, at My Re Purposed Life. She takes on major redoing with furniture pieces like this bench from two chairs. The overall design is stunning! You can find her detailed post from start to finish here.

Marie, at The Interior Frugalista, is another favorite "fixer-upper-recycler" of mine. I adore this bird feeder that she created from a chair backrest. The colors are beautiful.The idea is incredibly clever! She posted her full tutorial here.

Here is another chair recycling project; by ML Furniture Decor. Perfect for campfires. Portable, and rustic. You can find them on Facebook here.

Of course, chairs can take on a whole new personality as well. I picked one up from the curb with broken arms. By removing them ,and reupholstering, it gained a new life here.

This basic ladder back was turned into an upholstered wing chair. Adorable, isn't it? Originally done by "A Corner Cottage Online". The blog is no longer available, but, their Facebook page is. You can find it here.

Speaking of wings, this chair is a breathtaking inspiration. It's unfortunate I can't locate the original source anywhere. It's been pinned from all over the world and I found it on numerous photo sharing sites such as Tumbler and Flickr. But, the idea of creating a chair like this is exciting!

Here is a brilliant idea of combining two chairs to create a chaise by Katty's Cosy Cove. She saw the potential and it worked perfectly. You can see how it was done on her blog here.

I enjoyed transforming the original style of these two chairs. To create something unique, all it took was adding appliques, paint, and new upholstery. You can see the before, plain and seatless yard sale look here.

Even simple folding chairs have hope. This chair, by Mary Beth at Cupcakes and Crinoline, not only has a new character, but is gorgeous with a graphic applied to the burlap seat.

Then we have the "big" chair jobs.  This  Cole and Sons' "Woods" fabric is stunning, but how Susie used it to upholster her chair is stunning.

I love Jennifer's retake on this big boy at Contemporary Harbor. It's gorgeous!

A super detailed tutorial, by Four Generations Under One Roof, is worth watching and reading for this pretty chair. 

And, finally, I had the opportunity to re-upholster a sad wingback. I used "Branch Toss" from Minted for this makeover.

I could post chairs every day if I had the time. There are gazillions of ideas on style, techniques, colors, trends, upcycles, and recycles.

They are like shoes. Wonderful to look at.

Pier 1 Wicker and Rattan Chair Makeover

So I have this Pier 1 Imports wicker and rattan chair. It's huge! It's actually comfortable too. But ...

I could say, a big wild bear came down from the Adirondacks and attacked it. There weren't any more blueberries on the hilltops and it was soooo hungry... it smelled the remnants of a cheeseburger on the arms of the chair! Ravenging from starvation, it literally tore the wicker strips apart for every crumb!

But I won't say that. It's actually evidence of neglect.
Weather and wear.
Now that wicker and rattan have come back strong, it's a good time to bring this throne back to life. Because of the damage... maybe a whole new look for this big boy? I'll cover up the ruins because I don't wicker anything. I lack that knowledge.

So, I was planning on Western or Adirondack style. They are so similar, I can get away with either title.

First, to rid of loose paint.
I pressure washed all of it off.  Then hand sanded the wicker and rattan to smooth off any rough areas. Leaving some remnants of the original paint, that didn't come off easily (for distressing purposes...) it would have some dark areas while I freshly stained the others.

The fresh stain brought warmth to the chair. It was originally a solid dark brown paint. (Notice my attempt to do a half and half  "done and not done" photo? I always wanted to try that!)

Anyway. After the stain dried, the chair was ready for it's makeover. I had previously cut down all of the gnarled wicker that looked attacked by a bear. I decided to upholster the arms with repurposed leather. A vintage, soft,  and very distressed leather jacket. I cut off the arms of the jacket to use. (An arm for an arm! Sounds pretty "Even-Steven" to me!)

I stapled foam padding onto the front and over the arms. Securing the upholstery into the rattan frame under the wicker weaving. Then stapled on the leather. After cutting off the excess, I used a few leather belts to finish trimming with upholstery nails. (Tack nails; is what I call them.)

Check out those belts. They're not just for people, ya know!

I thought that weaved belt in the front of the arms was  quite fitting. 

Then, of course, the chair needed a cushion for design purposes and a wee bit of comfort. Using leftover fabric from another chair redo, I covered the original cushion we had.

It goes well with the chair and that red-stained leather belt accenting the sides. 

So now I'm wondering if that whole western thing was a good title for the chair. It looks very vintage Adirondack. I think I should have used the deer antlers for the photos.

I guess it will be a matter of personal opinion.

I do know it  looks much better than the state it was in.

It sure is rustic.

It looks like it belongs in a camp up north.

Ha! Where there are plenty of bears! 

From painted to stained,
It's refreshed!

Speaking of refreshed! I've joined in with a group of DIY Furniture Refreshing Gals and it's so exciting to see what each of us are making over this month!

Left to right: Katie The Homespun Hydrangea | Megan C’mon Get Crafty |  Sue A Purdy Little House

Top to bottom: Michele Shelstring Blog | Maria amotherworld | Michelle Our Crafty Mom  |and "Moi"!

Be sure to stop over and check out the renewed furniture by all of these talented ladies! These "before" photos has me all giddy to see the "after"! 

Featured at