BEFORE AND AFTER...

4/Today I will be showing you a before and after redo project that I had done. This redo project was a chair that I purchased and refinished several years ago. But before we get into that, I must confess something.

A few years ago I had a problem. I fondly refer to that stage in my life as the "Chair Era." It started innocently enough. As a newlywed, I needed a couple of chairs in which my husband and I could sit upon as we ate the homecooked meals that I so lovingly prepared for him. So I acquired two antique, somewhat shabby dining room chairs to fulfill that need in our lives. Then I had the opportunity to purchaes a couple more chairs that were quite similar to the others. My rationale was that we may someday have guests and they too would like to be able to sit and enjoy my cooking. It seems that that particular style must have been common as I found and purchased many more of the like. I also thought it would be fun to paint them all different colors. I now realize that was probably violated some interior design law. Not the first time, not the last.

Shortly thereafer, a dear friend purchased a new dining set and generously gave me her six matching antique chairs. Then it seemed to consume me. I would find miscellaneous dining room chairs at auctions or garage sales or people would just give them to me because they knew my love for chairs.

At one point, I took a rough count of dining room chairs, which at this point had been scattered throughout the house. There were 17. I had a full-blown problem. Matt started to question the need for so many chairs when there were only two occupants in the house, and we rarely had guests. Like a junkie, I started to hide them from him. I hid them under piles of clothes; I stacked them on top of each other in less-used closets; I even started stashing them in the crawlspace under our house.

The addiction soon spilled over to chairs of the upholstered nature. I would buy any simply upholstered chair that I thought I could ruin with my rudimentary upholstery skills. This is one of the acquisitions during the "Chair Era."



I purchased it in an antique store in Mitchell. The wood's finish had faded to an ugly olive color. The joints needed to be tightened up. The upholstery was of a hideous nature, somewhat resembling Velco-like Astro turf. It hurt my eyes.

An interesting note about this chair (I don't have pictures of the actual redo process) was what I found when I ripped away the old material. No it was not a mouse nest of Guinness book proportion. It was a note inside the springs of the seat.

In scrolling cursive writing on yellowed paper, the previous owner had written the date and a few other details explaining that they had reupholstered the chair back in 1978. I wish I had taken a picture of the note, or at least remembered exactly what it said.

Before I put the final tack into the upholstery, I slipped the original note, along with my own note into the seat of the chair. Someday, someone will think that this fabric is ugly and "What was she thinking!" and decide to recover the chair in Velcro-like Astro turf. They will find both notes inside.

In case you were worried, I have since downsized my chair collection drastically. I now have a very healthy number of chairs in my house and only a couple stashed underneath in the crawlspace.