Friday, October 23, 2015

A Tale of Two Chairs - Part 2

Work on the eighties cane back chairs has been slow and steady.  First thing was to remove the brass casters from the bottom of the legs.  I was a little worried that the chairs without the casters would sit too low, but after removing them I think the chair height is fine.  I added a small pad to the bottom of the leg and some batting on the seat, making up for some of the missing height.  

On to the fun stuff.  I rubbed the chairs with mineral spirits and sanded a bit to remove the high gloss finish - these chairs had so much gloss they would have stayed shiny for another three decades.  I then applied two coats of Amy Howard's chalk paint, distressed and added my favorite glaze (This small jar is all I have left and I will be hard pressed to remember what paints went into its making! A problem for another day)  






I decided not to paint the cane because it was in such good shape and I kind of liked the contrast with the gray.  The legs still have that bamboo look that I don't like but the paint and distressing makes it less noticeable.  I went back and forth on the fabric for the seat cover and ended up with some white fabric I picked up for $10.  I love a simple white fabric but I cringe a little about all the small dirty hands roaming my house.  I have enough fabric to recover one chair so that should last me a little while.  



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