"Chair"man of the Board

Okay, I have a thing about chairs. I love them! It is very difficult for me to pass up a sturdy chair at a flea market, no matter how bad it looks...especially if it's in the $5 to $20 range. I kind of try to sneak them into the house now, because my husband is to the point that he gives me that "look", and I get "what in the world are you going to do with another chair?


I bought this for $5 to use for a desk chair. And of course, I forgot to take a 'before' photo. So I laid the old seat fabric over the finished one to get this picture. The seat was very uncomfortable due to a few broken support wires in the front, and was covered with a scratchy, faded fabric (not quite as orangey as the picture looks).

Using an upholstery fabric remnant I bought for a whopping $1, and replacing the broken wires, this is the result. Professional upholsterers shouldn't look too close, but I'm pleased with my $6 chair.

My Favorite Thing

I found, through a friend, a delightful blog called "My Romantic Home". If you love the romantic, shabby chic look, you'll love this site. Cindy is wonderfully creative and inventive and has a fabulous eye for design. Her home is so beautiful. She also has great tips on refinishing furniture. Anyway, she is having an "our favorite things' weekend, where you can share one of your favorite belongings. You can find her blog at http://www.romantichome.blogspot.com/

I had to think a little, but definitely one of my favorite things in my home is this chair. I bought it at a yard sale for $25. It was covered with a very 1970's orange and green upholstery fabric. I can't believe I didn't take a before picture. This was my first attempt at reupholstering and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Even the fabric was a bargain...purchased for just a few dollars at a remnant sale. A few weeks after finishing, I found this pillow that matches perfectly at a gift shop while on a trip.

Creating An Heirloom

My daughter Erin was somewhere between 1-2 years old when Gary and I bought this used buffet at the Goodwill store. It went through a good many years of use by us, then by my brother and sis-in-law, and then storage in our barn. It was veneered and was badly chipped and peeling. Erin rescued it from the barn, removed all the veneer, stripped the old varnish, sanded and sweated her way through refinishing it and it is now a beautiful refurbished heirloom...recycling at it's best!! I'm trying to get it back from her now...but no doing! LOL!