Happy Tuesday! If you follow me over on instagram, you may remember this past fall I had posted about some dining chairs Ian found that I was refinishing. After two months, a move, and a baby, they are all done, and we have been enjoying them immensely!
When Ian and I got married we inherited a dining table from his sister. It was the one he grew up using and the perfect size for our little duplex. We thought we would use it until we could find a table and chairs we loved. Fat forward two years and we still had yet to decide on a table. When we bought our house Ian got rid of the chairs we had, and we thought it would be easy to pick new ones. Well, turns out we did find a table and chairs we love, but it is way too big for our current living situation, and we decided that Ian is going to build it after we add on a new kitchen. So that left us with a need for chairs. Do we buy four now (what we have room for), and risk not getting the same style a few years from now? Or buy eight and store some?
At this point Ian’s grandad offered to take them and finish them for us. He was a professional painter and has helped us with almost all the furniture in our home. He gave them another sanding and then applied stain with his sprayer.
We opted for a matte finish, which I think suits them well. As for the seats, Ian had to rebuild them completely by cutting out pieces of wood and we topped them with 1 1/2 inch foam, then wrapped them in fabric.
When Ian and I got married we inherited a dining table from his sister. It was the one he grew up using and the perfect size for our little duplex. We thought we would use it until we could find a table and chairs we loved. Fat forward two years and we still had yet to decide on a table. When we bought our house Ian got rid of the chairs we had, and we thought it would be easy to pick new ones. Well, turns out we did find a table and chairs we love, but it is way too big for our current living situation, and we decided that Ian is going to build it after we add on a new kitchen. So that left us with a need for chairs. Do we buy four now (what we have room for), and risk not getting the same style a few years from now? Or buy eight and store some?
While thinking through this, Ian one day found some dining chairs put out on the side of the road. He brought them to the house to see what I thought. We both liked them but they needed to be majorly revamped. Most of the cushions were torn or falling apart, they were dirty ( not dusty, like thick layer of grime on them), and last but not least they reeked of cat urine.
The day after we decided to rework them, Ian completely cut off all the fabric and I gave them a wash. They were soooo filthy, and I have this memory of Logan almost sticking the toothbrush I was using for scrubbing them in his mouth 😱. They had so much yuck all over I actually washed them three times. I wish I had a better "before" picture to show just how bad they were, but these are all I have. This was after I had ripped the seats out and washed them once. They were in process of being sanded and chiseled at this point.
Next I started removing staples and nails. The bottoms has been reupholstered a few times and I am not exaggerating when I say I pulled hundreds out. By the end my knuckles were actually raw and split open from rubbing against the wood so much. Once the nails and staples were gone, I sanded them down to remove the finish, as they needed to be restrained. I used a mix of 80 and 100 grit sandpaper and thankfully the stain came off quite easily. After this, I had to chisel off the broken wood carving at the top of the chairs. There was only one completely intact and unbroken, and we left it whole. The others don’t look like they are missing something, but it’s nice to see what they originally looked like. I just took a chisel and tapped it with a hammer in between where the chair and the carving meet. I was really nervous to do this because you can easily gouge wood this way, but thankfully no mistakes were made!
Next I started removing staples and nails. The bottoms has been reupholstered a few times and I am not exaggerating when I say I pulled hundreds out. By the end my knuckles were actually raw and split open from rubbing against the wood so much. Once the nails and staples were gone, I sanded them down to remove the finish, as they needed to be restrained. I used a mix of 80 and 100 grit sandpaper and thankfully the stain came off quite easily. After this, I had to chisel off the broken wood carving at the top of the chairs. There was only one completely intact and unbroken, and we left it whole. The others don’t look like they are missing something, but it’s nice to see what they originally looked like. I just took a chisel and tapped it with a hammer in between where the chair and the carving meet. I was really nervous to do this because you can easily gouge wood this way, but thankfully no mistakes were made!
I don’t know where these chairs are from, but they look like a Dutch style to me, so I wanted a fabric that was kind of folky and fun. Thankfully, my favorite company for all things floral and print, Rifle Paper Co has a gorgeous selection of fabrics. I chose this one because it was a cotton canvas, and should hold up pretty well. The print brings a little pop of color to our dining room without being the center of attention.
We hope to use these chairs for a few years until we add on a new kitchen and change up our dining situation completely, and when we are done I may scatter them throughout the house or give them away.
This project's total cost breaks down to just under a hundred dollars:
Chairs: Free
Fabric: $45 (I ordered way too much)
Foam: $35
Stain: $9
Wood: $10
This was a fun project and I love that these chairs have a story behind them as well :) Its actually pretty easy to find abandoned chairs on the side of the road, so slow down next time you see one while you're driving, it just might turn out to be something great.
XO, B
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