Orchids and a Christmas Cactus sit upon a mustard colored bench, made of salvaged wood. This is a photo from the breakfast room. The Christmas Cactus has been blooming for over a week. The birds are from Evergreen, at the Lake.
While reading Country Living (May 2008), I found an article, beginning on page 27, telling of a makeover of 4 Queen Anne Harden chairs, purchased on E-bay. The title of the article is, The $53 Chair Makeover.
The article reminded me of my makeover of 2 Queen Anne style chairs, a few years ago. I purchased 4 of the chairs at a resale shop, for about $12 each. At the time, I thought I might use them in the dining room of our new home, then under construction. In the end I decided to use 4 parsons chairs. The Queen Anne chairs were stored in the basement, just in case I decided I needed them. Later, I finished two of the chairs, to use as extras at the farmhouse table in the breakfast room. When we purchased the colorful chairs, the redone chairs were no longer needed. They were, once again, stored with the other chairs. I've used one of the chairs at a desk in the master bedroom. When we did that room makeover, I moved it to the bathroom, where it remains.
Since reading the Country Living article, I'm tempted to remake all 4 of my chairs. These Queen Anne style chairs were fairly inexpensive, when new, with a shiny black finish, over a white primer. I sanded the chairs and primed them with a rust colored primer from Krylon. Over the primer, I used Krylon Satin Black.
The original chair seats were covered in a worn and soiled white on white stripe. I found matelasse fabric at JoAnn fabrics, for about $10 per yard. One yard was plenty for two seats. At the same time, I purchased new foam padding.
The total cost of each chair was approximately $25, including chair purchase price. If I don't completely makeover the chairs, I may distress them, using sandpaper and brown shoe polish. Sanding the chairs in places of normal wear then using the brown shoe polish to "age" the sanded area. I also like the idea of using a monogram.
The following photos show one of the "finished" chairs and one of the chairs as they were when I bought them, except for the seat.
Have a wonderful weekend!
EDIT (4/13/08): Last week, I found I needed to activate the comment moderation option. It seems someone left an anonymous, not so nice, comment that had nothing to do with the blog or anything I've written. I'm sure many of you have had this same sort of comment. I appreciate your comments and am sorry for the inconvenience the moderation may cause my good and faithful readers! I regret to say, I think I may have clicked on a good comment or two, by accident, while trying to moderate. I have it figured out now, though and will be more careful! Your comments are much appreciated. Thank you!