Chair season - the chair with the vase-shaped splat

DIY Chair Makeover - with pictures

It's always better to have a pair, naturally. But when you only see one of something, whatever, just take that and figure out how to make it work. That was my guiding principle when I spotted this interesting chair on the top of a furniture pile.

Finding the chair to work with

I decided to take it since it was a classic shape, solid wood, and I could see that the seat would be easy to remove and recover with new fabric.  After getting it home I decided to strip the finish and dye it black. The quasi-inspiration was chair shown (below) in navy blue, except with a different back, a fabric seat, and a darker (black) color......

Pottery Barn - Napoleon Chair

The color inspiration came from these gorgeous chairs featured in one of the homes designed by Amber Interiors out in California.  The pulled-together-yet-non-matchy-matchy-ness of this dining space is superb.  Of course I'm not going to go out and buy matching shaped chairs, but I'm definitely going to experiment with black wooden chairs for a while.

credit: amberinteriordesign.com
http://amberinteriordesign.com/project/client-tupac-meets-biggie-to-decorate-the-diggies/

Make sense?

Refinishing the free chair

So here we are, with the citristrip applied.

The key with citristrip is to use so much that you cannot see the wood underneath. This is how it will have enough time to act before it dries out.  After scraping off a goodly amount of citristrip + old finish I got to the point where it became faster to just sand off the remaining bits of old finish.  Eventually I got to the point where the frame, as far as I could tell, was down to the wood.

After all of the stripping and sanding, and more sanding, and more sanding, it was time to dye the wood!  I used an aniline dye dissolved in water and painted it on with a brush.  There is probably a better way to do that type of application, the paintbrush dipped in water is pretty drippy.

The initial round of dye application (above) revealed that some spots were resisting the dye, and hence needed more sanding to remove the stubborn remnants of the original finish.
So I did more sanding.
 Then I applied another round of dye....

As I was applying the dye I was naturally filled with doubt.....
Was black the right choice?
Would it be too dark?
Would the finish be uneven?
Would it end up looking like crap?

Well, after dye, furniture wax, and a recovered seat (including a new layer of foam and batting) I got my answer.

The chair makeover, completed

Here's a close-up of the corner so you can see the detail of the printed fabric (from Spoonflower.com ) and also appreciate the soft lustre of the waxed finish.

So there it is, for better or worse, my dark floral makeover of a classic wooden chair.
If you look closely there are a few spots that resisted the dye, but maybe I can pass that off as the unique variations of a hand-finished piece? (Although we all know the truth is that I just get tired of sanding.)
 Hopefully if you didn't know what a splat was on a chair you've also learned a new furniture word!

Happy freestyling!

Grilled to meet you - update

Finding a tiny charcoal grill

Remember in early April when I found a small charcoal grill and gave it to a friend who was longing for one? I wrote about it in this post.

Here is the grill as first discovered...

a grill, discarded.

Transporting a tiny charcoal grill, using a laundry basket and towels

Here is the tiny grill ready for transport...

a grill, rescued and slightly disguised for transport

New owner enjoying their new (free) tiny grill for some summer dining

And now, here is one of the overjoyed users, showing just how nice it is to have a patio set and a grill for summer food prep. (See that little folding table? Yes, it was also a freestyle find.)

Happy free styling, share your requests with the universe - you never know what will turn up.

Fan-tastic (x2)

Why you should look for discarded small table fans

Summer has arrived, and with it the need for better air circulation.  Luckily I've got two little table-top fans for which I paid $0.  Less fortunately, when I tried to use the trusty old square fan (a freestyle find over a decade ago) for the first time this year it wouldn't start spinning, and the other fan that I had pulled out of the trash room had never spun at all.  After some internet research and watching a videos on you tube I was able to restore full functionality to BOTH fans.  Turns out the most common cause of fans not working is that dust and hair get sucked in and gum up the works. So if you plug in the fan, turn it on, and hear a buzzing sound but no spinning blade is happening that means the electrical parts still work, but the mechanical parts are stuck.

Here's a quick photo journey of how I fixed this small tabletop fan, and quick DIY that saved me over $30 since I used the same process to repair two fans.

How to examine your free table fan and decide if it can be repaired, step-by-step instructions

Step 0. Gather supplies, including screwdriver(s), small scissors (fingernail scissors or embroidery scissors), pointy-tip tweezers, WD-40, paper towels

Useful tools: nail scissors and pointy-tip tweezers

Step 1. Plug in and test fan. If there is no movement of the fan blades, but you can hear the electricity buzzing, that is a good sign.  In my case there was no movement of the fan blades when plugged in and turned on, but yes! there was buzzing sound when turned on.

Our test subject, a free tabletop fan

Repairing the free table top fan

Now that I had some indication that the electrical part of the fan was still working, I thought the problem was likely something mechanical that was stuck. Let's continue on to Step 2....

2. Unplug fan and remove cover by unscrewing all the connections around the back.  These are likely small screws, somewhat recessed, that hold the back plastic part of the fan to the front plastic cover part of the fan.

Removing the tiny screw that hold the front cover to the back cover.

Fan with the front cover removed.

3. Use tweezers and a nail scissors to pull off any dust on the center shaft.  Cut any hairs that were wound around the shaft and pull off the pieces.  Use a paintbrush or paper towels to wipe off any dust, including on the back cover and on the fan blades.  Do this for the front cover that you removed (I ran that piece under the sink sprayer and then let it dry thoroughly, but that was probably overkill).

Brushing the dust off of the back cover and fan blades.

View of the center shaft with some detritus wrapped around it, need to remove that gunk!

4. Bring fan into bathtub (or do this outside) and spray WD-40 on the parts that *should* be moving, like the center shaft.  WARNING: If you spray WD-40 inside your bathtub the surface will become EXTREMELY SLIPPERY, make sure you clean it properly before trying to use the tub or shower for bathing.

If you spray WD-40 in the bathtub, it will make the tub REALLY SLIPPERY.  

5. Wait a few minutes for the WD-40 to soak in, slowly rotate the fan blade by hand to make sure the liquid is evenly distributed.

6. Carefully set the fan upright, but facing a wipeable surface like the side of the tub or the back of the toilet seat.  When you turn the fan back on any excess WD-40 will come flying out the front IF the repair was successful.

7. Making sure fingers and hair are clear of the fan, plug fan back in and turn on to test if blades spin properly.

Spinning fan blades indicate a successful repair.

8. Once blades spin properly, do a happy dance of DIY success. Let fan run a few minutes until no more WD-40 is flying out the front.

9. Turn off fan, unplug fan. Wipe any stray WD-40 off the fan blades or other parts it might have leaked on to, and then reconnect front cover using the same tiny screws you removed in step 2.

One of 6 tiny screws that held the cover pieces together.

10. Enjoy new, or newly repaired, fan.

Conclusion

Happy freestyling, and don't be afraid of trying to fix that free fan. With the right screwdriver and a few small supplies it only took about 20 minutes.

Cutlery? Oh I've got it in the bag.

Cutlery set and pizza cutter!
Price: Free.

Silverware set, in the bag.

Forks, spoons, and knives are so easy to come by in plastic form these days, but I prefer to use metal utensils.  They just have a better feel to them, and are usually easier to clean and not assumed to be disposable.  I have a set at work that I can clean and store in a drawer so I'm not lugging extra weight around in my backpack.  But aside from all that, I found a silverware set (and BONUS pizza cutter) recently.  I do not need more silverware, I have two sets, and three if you count some fancy old stuff that is still bagged up from when my mother gave it to me.  However, I have a friend who is moving and setting up a new place, so all those kitchen supplies are welcome. It is surprising how quickly those odds and ends can add up in cost when buying them new, even in terms of time spent on shopping.  So I'd like to thank whoever was so thoughtful that at least they neatly bagged this silverware set before discarding it.  You've made this freestyling particularly easy.

Happy freestyling.