Here's The Story Behind This Chair...

It all began one June day.  I received a call from my BFF since 4th Grade Krista about a chair destined for the burn pile if I didn't save it.  So, I saved it.  This not about that chair.  However, on the way home with that chair in the back of the Durango, my young son & I drove behind the former Masonic Lodge in our town.  That's a picture of the lodge in it's last heyday.  (It's being made over as we speak into a special events venue and you won't believe how it looks so far.)  

Behind that building we found this chair marked FREE.  I grabbed it.  (If you are keeping track that's TWO free chairs in ONE day.  Yay me!)

It was in need of repairs which is probably why it didn't sell at the auction they had recently held.  

You may recall the chair I did for my son's new apartment in Park Ridge, Illinois.  Well, try as she might my friend Melissa wanted that chair.  She also wanted the sleigh bed I was redoing, neither of which my son would give me permission to sell even with the promise of finding him something else.

I knew the free chair I found would be perfect for Melissa and she wanted it done in the same style as the other one.  Let me tell you, my son's chair was easier.  The arms were able to be removed on his chair, not on Melissa's.  Triple H repaired the chair.  Then I went about painting it. 

Then fun with fabric time came.  I say that sarcastically.  There are differences between Zach's chair and Melissa's chair.  The arms that I mentioned before and the age of the chairs.  Zach's was much younger than Melissa's chair.  

After I had completed Zach's chair I really wish I had painted the body of it black but getting my kid to commit to any color at all when redoing his apartment furniture was like pulling teeth.  So, I was excited to do this new chair black.  I distressed it lightly because I knew it would be sitting next to a black distressed dresser.  One that I sold her a month or so ago. 

I'm so glad that former entertainment center has found a  new place in their home.  Dumpster Dresser is happy, too, because that meant he got to stay with us forever.  Plus, he's too cool to sell.

We decided this was the weekend to finish that chair and to break in our new pneumatic staple gun.  We replaced the straw and seen better days foam in the seat with a new foam cushion.  The seat went together beautifully.  The front and back of the chair proved a little more difficult.  Those versed in upholstery have probably tackled those beasts before and tamed them.  Me?  Well, I have learned at least one thing with this chair.  I.  Will.  Never.  Do.  Another.  Chair.  With.  Arms.  That.  Aren't.  Removeable.  PERIOD.  With a few cuss words, a couple of bandaids needed on my fingers (Snoopy bandaids by the way) and a "I hate you text" to Melissa.  (I really don't but she gets my humor.) We finally called it COMPLETE.  

Let's take a look at it in pictures.  We'll start with the bottom of the chair, which in my opinion is the best part of it.  (Just kidding!  Well, part of me thinks it is, but I'm critical of my own work and I AM NOT AN UPHOLSTER.  Hehehehehe...)

I do think it looks better with the black finish.  We also gussied it up a bit on the backside with some black trim. 








See the black upholstery tacks we used to add a little more style to it?

I'm glad this one is done.  Melissa is, too.  Now it'll live happily ever after with it's new family.  Now that we  have done two chairs in that fabric, I'd really like to never see that fabric again for the rest of my life.  But, we have one more to do in it.  This one has no arms.  YAHOO!  I'm not sweating that one as much.  I wasn't sweating this one until we got down to the upholstering part of it.  That's because I was tricked by how easy I thought redoing a chair was because my son's chair was such a piece of cake.  I'm going to be eyeballing every other upholstery project from here on out with a suspicious look.  

So, the chair is finished, the work on the former Masonic Lodge now known as The Silver Fox is continuing, and I still drive down their alley weekly hoping for another furniture castaway by their dumpster.  Check out their Facebook page and see the progress they are doing on that building.  I had no idea such beauty was behind the facade of that long standing place.  Gorgeous doesn't describe it.  Beyond gorgeous does. Seriously, go look at their progress pictures. 

There you go.  Thanks to my handsome handy husband for all of his work alongside me while we redid this chair.  Now, we have a few projects for our own house to do.  I'll show you those when we are finished.  Oh, the first FREE chair we scored that day?  This is it.  It was also an unsold item at an auction, but this auction was at Brown's Auction Service.  (I'm their webmaster.)

If you have a furniture flip you'd like to share with us, please email the before/after pictures and all of the details to furnitureflippin@gmail.com .  

Have a great Monday!

~ Stephanie