Giving new life...

Recently in the past few months, I had the task of creating a vanity for my room. I had found the desk, mirror, and accessories for the vanity set-up, but I didn't have a chair or bench! Now, I looked through CL to no avail, perused through retailers only to be dissapointed by the high prices, so I turned to a familiar friend, mr. goodwill. Actually, I can't claim credit on this find because it was all my mother! She went to the thrift shop one afternoon on a mission and found me a vintage art-deco-esque chair for I kid you not, $3.99. Sure it had its run. And by run, I mean it need TLC. A little love and handiwork can make all the difference in an older piece of furniture. All you need it an idea, the tools to do the work, and some determination. She really saw through the well-indented plastic seat cushion, scratched wood, and dusty legs. More so than I.

I knew I wanted the chair to be in the darker shades of cherry or mahagony. And fabric is key to the seat. The idea was 17th century french floral. Hmm. So, off to Wal-mart went mom and I. We grabbed a can of wood stain ($4), some fine grain sand paper ($1), paintbrush ($2), and some great, heavy upholsetry fabric ($5).

So, we first removed the cushion from the chair, took the chair outside (well-ventilation is key), sanded the entire chair down to remove uneven texture, and stained it with the wood stain. I had picked out one of the darkest shades of the stains available, a bombay mohagany. After carefully painting the chair evenly, we allowed it to dry overnight. The next day, we applied another layer of stain to even out any missed spots. After another night of drying, we were ready to make the cushion.

We cut an appropriate size of fabric, stapled it around the cushion to the back with a heavy duty work-stapler, and viola! A brand new cushion!

So, we simply put the cushion back on the now-dried chair, and I now had myself a beautiful new vanity chair on which I type right now. And for under $15....you can't beat that! I love giving new life to an old piece of furniture. It makes it unique and truly one of a kind!

Before (excluding mustard-yellow plastic cushion which I had removed for cleaning):

And After: