Chair Therapy

OK- before we write anything further, we just wanted to say THANK YOU to the 500+ people who read our blog yesterday.  Who knew SteinMart was our ticket to the over 500 viewer mark?  But, today I’m talking chairs.  How rescuing chairs somehow rescues me.

With the Whitland Home Tour deadline ticking away (less than 30 days), my stress therapy seems to be coming in the form of refurbishing old chairs.   As I toiled in my driveway a couple of weeks ago, my friend Leigh screamed from her car window, “Don’t you just love arts and crafts for the over 50?” Excuse me?  NOT going there, except to admit I do have a strange attraction to chairs in need of some HELP.

This chair therapy post is a “before & after” expose’ where you get to see the before chairs at their MOST primitive state and the after chairs, once they have been ever-so-lovingly refurbished for the HOME TOUR.

To start, I have listed the chairs from most to least expensive.  Here goes:

Carved rosewood chair from Dealer

Chair #1

I purchased this exquisite rosewood chair with its creaky leg and small missing piece from Dealer’s Choice on Eighth Avenue.  It will sit daintily by my bathtub with lush towels draped over the back for the aforementioned HT (Home Tour).  For those of you NOT courageous enough to walk through the doors of Dealer’s Choice (quite understandably by the way) please know that you can walk in off the street and make an offer to the owner, Barry Wilkinson, for almost any item in Dealer’s Choice.  Even though Dealer’s Choice is an auction house, Barry does give some good deals just for asking.  Chair # 1 cost $125 and will be re-upholstered in a simple, yet elegant, beige linen with my INITIALS on the seat.  Hey Liza, does that meet with your approval on the monogram front? Let’s hope so, because I do not plan on driving my chair.  She was quite opinionated on that post, huh?  Love a gal willing to speak her mind…

Dealer’s Choice Antiques
2109 8th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37204-2203
(615) 383-7030
www.dealerschoiceantiqueauction.com

Chair #2

Steal of a purchase from the Nashville Flea Market.  I saw this chair from afar and couldn’t resist its folk art qualities.  The chair is solid as a rock (no wobbling), needs some minor stripping (OK, I have gone crazy) and has two seat cushions in need of recovering.  Somewhere along this chair’s torrid past, someone painted the base red, white and blue. How patriotic!  My plan is to repaint with an eggshell type of milk paint.  The seat covers I can do myself  with a simple beige Sunbrella fabric, add some brass studs for a more detailed look and be done. Chair # 2 cost $45 as I tried to strike a deal at $40 and lost.

The Old Fashion Milk Paint Co.
www.milkpaint.com

The Nashville Flea Market
http://www.tennessestatefair.org

Chairs #3

Yep, once again I struck an amazing find at the Nashville Flea Market with these chairs at a WHOPPING $15 each (I got two identical ones).  One is sturdy and the other is wobbly, but both have fantastic lines and work PERFECTLY with an architectural piece in my family room.  Task at hand is to paint both chairs a dark brown and accent with  a Porter Paint glaze to give a vintage  textured look, then re-upholster.  During the same trip to the “Flea” I also scored a remnant of fabric reminiscent of William Morris for a bargain at $35.  If time permits, I may attempt to cover them myself, but probably not.

Porter Paints Color: Fudge Truffle/ 526-7

Porter Paint Glaze: Black  6.K.2E

www.porterpaint.com

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