DIY Furniture makeover of colonial-style chair with numerous spindles
Background
It is rare that I like the lines of a chair, especially upon first sight.Such was the case with this wooden chair, which I believe to be a reproduction of something colonial, or maybe just colonial-inspired.
The bottom has a stamp that according to some internet research indicates that it was probably made in the middle part of the last century. The stamp says Fitchburg, Mass.
Refinishing the chair
For a while this chair served as a step stool around the house, and by 'a while' I mean about two years. It held up beautifully and was just the right height for so many tasks, from painting the ceiling and installing light fixtures to hanging art. During that time it also got a little bit scuffed up, although the finish wasn't perfect to start with - free things rarely are.
Eventually, this winter, it might have been March, I decided to refinish the chair. I actually had to chairs to refinish, which apparently is a critical mass when you have limited storage space and want things to be functional and pretty.
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| Wooden chair holding the refinishing supplies. |
First I used citristrip.....
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| Wooden chair after the initial Citristrip application. |
...and that was a mistake because OH MY GOD ALL THOSE SPINDLES.
Small round spindles are not ideal for a product that you normally remove by scraping with a flat blade, because with each pass of the blade you only remove a tiny amount of the citristrip/old finish, rather than a 1-2inch section like you would on a flat surface.
Eventually I switched to sanding, but OH MY GOD ALL THOSE SPINDLES. In the photo below you can see that the bottom half of the chair has been sanded (mostly by hand), but the top is still showing only the finish that was removed by citristrip.
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| Wooden chair after citristrip used on the top, and sanding on the bottom part. |
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| Wooden chair after switching to sanding as the method to remove the old finish. |
At one point I finished sanding and moved on to the step of (hopefully) fixing one of the cross brace pieces that had come loose. To stabilize this I used some wood glue and a belt to hold it like a clamp while it dried.
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| Wooden chair with loose cross brace being glued, secured with belts while the glue dries. |
At this point I think I erred, because I decided to "branch out" and do something different by painting the chair instead of dyeing it with the pigments I had on hand.
Poor choice.
If I had dyed the wood and not liked it I could have eventually painted it, but one does not paint and then dye. So, lesson learned, don't let haste and fear drive your design decisions.
Here it is, painted in Benjamin Moore Black Iron.
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| Wooden chair after being painted with the first coat of paint, back side. |
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| Wooden chair after being painted with the first coat of paint, front side |
To my eyes the first coat of paint looked grey, not black.
So I took the paint can back to my hardware store and had them add more pigment. Then I painted another coat.
Better, still not black, but again, the project fatigue was starting to set in. And of course I was peeved AT MYSELF for not dyeing the wood in the first place for fear of having an uneven finish like I had seen on my splat-back chair project.
Silly when I think about it in retrospect.
Conclusion, the finished-for-now chair
Here is how the chair stands (sits?) now.
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| Spindle-back chair refinished with black paint, accessorized with decorative pillow. |
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| Spindle-back chair refinished with black paint. |
And that is probably how it shall stay for a while, unless I decide to add a top coat.
Do I need a top coat? How rough am I with my furniture? Polycrylic or shellac?
Or I could try to buy some of that alkyd paint I read about online that supposedly gives a tough enamel finish.... Paint costs can add up quickly and I really don't like a bunch of partially-used cans sitting around. So many things for the freestylist to consider.
Happy freestyling!