Another Chair Project Done!

Another chair project is done. My formal living room is coming together. It is all about finding the right pieces. I recently found a vintage Asian coffee table for the living room. I am thrilled with this piece, as it coordinates with the the Asian side table I  found while shopping at Canton First Monday earlier this month. My vintage coffee table was found at an estate sale. Not sure on the age. They said their mother had it in her home for at least 40 years and she purchased it as an antique/vintage piece. It never got much use at her home, as it was in a back room covered. Which is apparent from the appearance. Lucky me on this find! Here is how it looks in our formal living room.

Above is the top of the coffee table with and without the glass. It needed glass to protect the hand painted work on top. It is quite a charming, unique piece.

I also found a cute, miniature, old gong that has Korea hand etched into the underside. The kids love playing with this piece. It is a heavy metal of some sort, but not exactly sure what kind of metal. It is adorable and unique.

As for the chairs I actually completed that project a few weeks back. They are vintage chairs from the 1960’s. I found these for sale online from a couple that has a boutique that sell mostly vintage pieces and antiques. The finish was looking worn in places, so I knew I was going to have to clean, sand, and paint. I did a very rough, quick sanding that took only about 30 minutes. After I sanded, I cleaned the chairs again to remove any residue before painting. Spray paint has come a long way over the years. Now it comes with primer in it and it covers more evenly and smoothly. No need to strip the wood for most furniture when using new spray paint of high quality. It should have any lose paint sanded off though. Below is the paint I used and it worked wonderfully! Hiwever, I purchased 3 cans and one had to be exchanged because it got clogged after using it for just a few minutes. I still recommend it though, as the finished paint job looks impeccable and it has more to do with the paint itself than my efforts. When using spray paint on furniture the key is to do thin coats so you don’t have any runs or drips. I tend to do more layers, but I do thin coats. I made sure each layer or coat was thoroughly dry before adding another coat. The Texas air is dry, so my coats dried very quickly (about 10-15 minutes).

I like the finished product of the chairs and it really did not require that much work. It helped that I did not have to strip down the chairs. The spray paint gave it a great finish that won’t chip.

My all time favorite style is Chinese Chippendale. There isn’t anyone that even makes new dining room sets in this style, which is what I would like someday. I have found some vintage sets online, but they really are a small fortune (like over 10k). I will wait. I will be patient and keep looking for a vintage set that needs a little work. I can obviously give it the finished look it may need with some effort; I just need good quality bones of the pieces.

You may be wondering, where are Magdalena’s 3 small children while she does these projects? When I did the chairs I took them poolside so I could watch the kids swim. I actually had my bathing suit on and went in to play with the kids while I let the coats of paint dry. It made it easy for me to do the work because they were occupied and having fun and I was able to be there watching them. They wore their puddle jumpers too. Safety is first! I did forget some tools so I had to take them all out of the pool and back inside with me…wet…to get what I needed. Oh well, I got it all done anyway and the kids had fun while it was being done!