New Life for an Old Chair

My husband found this old dining chair at the Salvation Army (Sallie's as my sister-in-law refers to it!), on sale for $9.99.  Woo hoo!  I love it when I get picture mail and it is a project for us to work on.  We needed a chair for my daughter's desk and I had been looking for something similar, but kept finding them for $25+ on CL.  I knew I could find one for less.  Or the husband could.  He is quite the thrift store shopper.  I am starting to love thrift stores, but they always used to give me the heebie jeebies.  Just dusty and I am really allergic to dust, so I always leave with scratchy skin.  Ick.  Don't know how I manage to survive in this house with a dust allergy.

I did the sanding, priming and painting on the wood and my husband worked on the seat.  The base of the seat is a hardwood frame and has springs.  I guess I was just expecting a piece of wood with a pad on it.  Like almost everything but that lovely pink side table, she wanted the chair to be all creme.  She picked out a piece of jacquard fabric from Joann's and I purchased a new cushion and batting from Walmart.  Since she is going to spend a lot of time in front of the computer, I want this chair to be more comfortable than it originally was.  The husband removed a million staples and about 40 nails, then it was ready for it's facelift.  As you can see in the "after" photos, the seat is a lot plumper now and is much more comfortable.  Oh, I didn't put poly on this because I wanted it to get a little beat up looking.  I figure it will be pushed into the desk daily, so hopefully it will distress the legs and the back.

Sad, lonely chair, covered with sale stickers!

Nice cushy seat!

BOTTOM LINE:
        

Chair                                           $9.99

Primer  (1/3 can)                           1.29

Paint                                              3.87

Fabric                                            8.00

Cushion and Batting                     13.00

TOTAL                                      $36.15

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The Vanity

My daughter has been dying for a vanity in her room.  After scouring Craigs List for several months, I finally came across one for a mere $50.  Even better, it has the three-way mirror that she was hoping for. I thought finding one with that three way mirror was going to be the end of me.

The pricing on these are all over the place.  They range from $75-300, but the $75 one's were snatched up immediately.  The crazy thing is, the $300 versions weren't any nicer than the $75 one's. My husband and I have a theory that some people are just crazy in how high they price things on CL.  I guess the sellers don't check other's pricing before they list.  I consider myself really lucky to find one as cheap as I did.  It has veneer issues on the top, but my daughter begged us to leave it shabby, so we just primed and painted right over it.  Everything else, other than mirror that shows its age, is in fantastic shape.

Two coats of primer, three coats of her beloved Rustoleum Heirloom White (more than the usual two, since we know she was going to be ROUGH on this), and two coats of wipe-on poly and it was ready.  One of the top drawers was missing its hardware, so we bought some girly crystal knobs for the top two drawers.  The other original hardware is intact.  Sorry the before photo is awful.  I took more photos, but they are worse than this one.  My blackberry takes horrible photos.



Before - you can see the missing veneer on top



BOTTOM LINE:  

Vanity                  $50.00

Primer                    3.87

Paint (3 cans)       11.61

Poly                       3.00

2 Crystal Knobs    8.00

                                     

TOTAL              $76.48

Lesson Learned:  Be patient!  If you know exactly what you want, it may take time to find it, but eventually you will.  Teaching that patience to a teenager is a whole other story!

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hemichelenafamily.

Frenchy Goodness!

After a nice sanding and ready for primer!

 This side table was a CL (Craigs List) purchase.  Twenty bucks!  I haven't seen another 60's side table like this with the French accent.  I adore those lovely legs and the curved bottom.  Luckily Olivia decided to veer away from Heirloom White and go with Ballet Slipper Pink by Krylon. Yummy.  Pink and French.  For me, that is about as good as it gets! Check out the before and afters.  She may have to leave this one here when she leaves for college.  Just sayin'.

BOTTOM LINE:

Table                    $20.00

Primer (1 can)         3.87

Paint (2 cans)          7.74

2    Coats Poly         3.00

TOTAL                 $34.61

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