Have you shopped for chairs lately? Geeze-a-loo! They are a couple hundred bucks a chair! If you want to seat at least 6 people, then add a nice sized table with leaves, you are looking at a lot of money. Add to the fact that sometimes these pieces of furniture aren’t even real wood, it just adds insult to injury. That is why I often by vintage, thrift, second-hand Craig’s list or antique fairs for furniture. In the rare case, we have enough money to buy good furniture, we try and buy it rarely and from good stores. Our bed we bought at Marshall Fields (Yeah, I am dating myself) and it is a stunning 4 poster bed made of real mahogany. That bed will outlast both of us.
Thrift stores are great for accent chairs. It is rare you can actually find a set of 4, let alone more, to fill a dining room, but it can happen. You just need to know which ones get them more regularly. This chair I purchased for $8 at a Salvation Army. The wood was solid, and the seat was disgusting but I was going to recover it anyway. Always look on the bottom to make sure the seats can easily get unscrewed and popped out for recovering. Also, looking at the bottom to detect any cracks, marks or defects on the legs of the frame is important. I was so excited by this find. I had been wanting a pretty accent chair to sit in my bay window area of our bedroom.
Your next two stops after purchasing a chair like this are the hardware store and the fabric store.
Measure your seat for fabric, imagine an overhang to fold under, and if you plan on adding more cushion with fiberfill, add a few more inches. You may be able to get away with a piece from the scrap bin, depending, so check there first. If using fiberfill, get the appropriate amount. If using upholstery seating foam, measure the right size to fit the seat and get it cut by a clerk.
Next off to the hardware store. I get “restore a finish” found in the paint section, and it is a great brew to shine up and revive old varnished wood to their original glory. Only use this if you are happy enough with the wood condition and color of your piece. Also, if your seat is missing any screws on the bottom, be sure to get more. Also on your shopping list, make sure you have enough carpenter staples for your staple gun.
That’s it. After that, you are ready to rock. Honestly, you can get this project done in a couple of hours. I think all said and done, this chair cost me 25 bucks? A far cry from $200. And it’s real wood with a vintage charm all it’s own.
To see the step by step how to, here is my “Fridays with Flora” video installment. If this project is pretty cool and you don’t want to miss anymore, subscribe to my youtube channel. I update a “Fridays with Flora” episode weekly, and also pepper in some other fun stuff throughout the month depending on what is going on at the homestead!
Here ya go!
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