Mid-Century Chair Stripped / New Needlepoint Seat

Mid-Century Chair
w/Needlepoint After

 

Mid-century chair
before refinishing

It’s amazing how styles from the past tend to pop up fifty or sixty years later, as if the idea is brand new. This mid-century modern chair is classical 1960’s style, wide, low back and clean lines which were commonly seen in living rooms across America which mimicked the Scandinavian style. I loved the lines of this chair. 

This chair was extremely well made, quite strong and needed no tightening or repairs. The back had a few missing veneer pieces, which were easily filled in and stained so that it was hardly visible. 

I made the choice to completely strip this chair instead of touch-up because I felt that this is what it needed. In order to be true to the piece, you must determine what’s the best course of action to make it look the best it can. In this case, I stripped off the old finish, luckily wasn’t too difficult to remove as old stain mostly is. It came off easily and once that was done, I thoroughly sanded it, removing the excess stain and stripped. I cleaned it with lacquer thinner and sanded it smooth. 

I was very happy with the way the chair turned out. The light cherry stain was definitely the perfect color to offset the dark color of the needlepoint. A nice foam padding finished off the seat so that the chair is as comfortable as it is pretty.

I chose cherry stain to keep the color light which I felt complimented the lovely needlepoint seat that my customer made just for this seat. This was the third seat such as this that I had made for this same customer. The other two were benches. She is making a needlepoint seat for each of her grandchildren. She makes the needlepoint then finds the chair or bench which is the right size for the needlepoint. So far she’s been pretty lucky! 

To see one the previous needlepoint benches I made for this customer, check out the link below. Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo of the other one, but it had a blue background with a black bench.

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5936537173467203420/24816612440806533 

Art Deco Dresser

Art Deco Dresser Before

Art Deco Dresser After

This lovely art deco dresser was one item of a complete bedroom set with other art deco items. This dresser is a classic example of timeless beauty with clean lines and elegant design. Made of lovely cherry, this dresser had a great, solid structure and plenty of use left, albeit a bit worn around the edges. It needed a good, solid comeback and had been crying for a total restoration. But no restoration is easy. This dresser required a lot of attention to details.

First we removed the hardware (which would later be cleaned and polished by hand) and the drawers, some of which had bottoms that weren't completely attached. A few nails in the exact center of the support board in the back of these drawers reinforced the bottoms, so they were once again strong enough for perfect functionality. Each drawer was then completely stripped, sanded and stained with cherry stain, then put aside while we did the same work on the body of the dresser. The stain brought out the beauty of the wood's grain, always my favorite part of any restoration.

Handles before and after

Measuring at 52" tall, this dresser offered plenty of storage with deep drawers and a solid body. The bottom decorative rail had been loose and fell off during the pick up drive, therefore it wasn't show in the "before" photo, but we glued and nailed it back after refinishing it as well. After applying two coats of semi-gloss polyurethane, this deco beauty was once again the star of the show. The handles had been polished and after they were reinstalled, added the "bling" which was the perfect touch in another great refinishing job.

Antique Buffet Pretty Once More

Buffet Before Refinish

Buffet After Refinish

A friend of the family had this lovely red oak buffet in her family for generations and spent the summer sanding it down to bare wood, but when it got down to the nitty gritty, she threw up her hands and asked me if I would finish it for her by stripping the details around the medallion and all the tiny areas she was unable to reach with her sander. I told her I'd be happy to do this and once she delivered it, I got right to it. After doing the detailing in the fluted sides and inner corner edges, I gave it a final sanding and used golden pecan stain for the finish with two coats of polyurethane to protect the wood. I decided to add a third coat of polyurethane on the top only, since that gets the most amount of use. 

Once the staining was complete, I tackled the brass pulls, ten of them. I spent approximately seven hours polishing them until the looked like new. When possible, I like to use original hardware as it fits the period of the furniture item. These were indeed gorgeous and looked like the day they were made when I was done with them. I've done buffets similar to this one, but the character of every piece is unique and it always surprises me when I stand back and look at the "before" and "after" photos and think, "I did that!" It's truly rewarding in a way that only someone who loves old furniture can appreciate.

Pulls and Hinges Before Polishing

Pulls and Hinges After Polishing