Rose Chair Redo

This old chair has been with me for so many years it's amazing it's still in one piece. It definitely predates my children. It was another $5 find at a local thrift store, and I bought it simply because I fell in love with the rose carved into the back of it.

Last summer I decided the old girl needed a makeover. As you can see, the upholstery was threadbare and the finish scored with scratches.

I started by removing the seat and prying the old fabric from it. I found that it had been recovered before!

Talk about peeling back the years. I wish I knew what year the chair dated from. There was no date stamped anywhere on the chair.

The original layer of fabric was tacked down with these tiny little nails, which resemble the type of nails that we're used to tack our current upstiars carpet down. And we're guessing the carpet dates from the 1930's or 40's.

I bought duck cloth from Wal-Mart to recover the seat and stapled it in place with my handy dandy staple gun.

And then I tackled the frame by sanding and staining. I managed to get one coat of polyeurythane on the chair before we moved. In the craziness that followed, the frame ended up in one place and the seat cushion in another. It wasn't until November that I applied the second coat of poly (with an appropriate face mask) and reattached the seat. I'm so happy with the way it turned out! You can actually see the wood grain in the frame again. It's fun giving tired furniture new life.