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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Refinish Furniture, Phase I

I am working on refinishing some furniture before we move. I know Andrew would try to make me throw all the  grim, seatless chairs away, so I knew I had to fix them up. I also had all of last week off of school, so that was a good time. 

This si the before picture of the table. Andrew has sanded it, and it is sitting in the back yard waiting for the weekend, weekend. Lol. The white will be painted a medium green and the top will be stained golden pecan, which is the same color that I stained the giant frame.
 I forgot to take "before" pictures of these two chairs. They were both stained a dark brown, and the finish was coming off. This one was so easy to sand that I only had to do it by hand. This chair is really pretty with the upside down hearts.
 For this one I used the electric sander to speed things along. The paint color is "Grape Vine."

 This one took forever to sand, even with the electric sander. I spent an hour or two and then I got cranky and quit. Andrew went out and smoothed out the seat more, but I still ended up just painting over some of the white. Whatever. I haven't taken an "after" picture yet.
Awkward encounter:
Andrew gave the new downstairs neighbors the impression that everything in the shed in the backyard was just junk up for grabs, so they took one of my four old, mismatched chairs. That was on Thursday. I had to think about how to get it back with either leaving a note (which always sounds bitchy, even if you don't mean to) or knocking on the door and saying "Um, hi. Could I have my chair back. please?" Fortunately, on Sunday Andre was sanding the table and the girl came out to water her plants. He asked very off-handedly and they were like "oops, sorry" and gave it back. Yay, Andrew!

So this weekend I will paint and stain the table and sand and paint the last chair. Three of the chairs need new upholstered seats and I am going to make a cushion for the one with arms. My mom gave a great Martha Stewart how-to article on how to do that. I will have to go around to the home decor shops around town and find a cool fabric. I want something modern and young looking, maybe in a blue or beige.

Any fabric suggestions?

6 comments:

  1. This sounds like a lot of work. How are you planning to fit in plans to hang out with your good friend, Ms. C?

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  2. I like mismatched chairs too. I just posted a picture of mine yesterday although I doubt I will ever have your strength to get them all sanded and colour co-ordinated. Great colour by the way. Lovely husband too for asking. Cherrie

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  3. Did Andrew check her hand for a ring???

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  4. What a beautiful color and job you are doing on the table and chairs. I had forgotten what neat chairs you found, the upside down hearts and the chair that looks like a small throne! I can't wait to see what you choose for the fabric seats too!!

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  5. Looking very good! Hooray for getting your chair back, too :)

    For cushion fabric I'd suggest a synthetic blend, probably from home dec. 100% cotton doesn't wear as well, though twill is ok. A fairly heavy fabric with a smooth surface, machine washable, and removable cushions are all good to have.

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Thanks for your thoughts and feedback!