The Old Blue Chair

Today is my last day of freedom. Although I am excited to get back to school to see the kids, I am pretty bummed because I had an incredible summer full of family, friends, 5:00 wine dates, suntanning, and exploring my right brain with arts and crafts. In my last few days of this wonderful summer, I have worked on a few projects around my house. First, I found this old blue chair with hideous upholstery at Agora.



Vintage Blue Chair from Agora's in Downtown Athens, Georgia - $20

 So, I found some pretty pale yellow silk striped upholstery from Hobby Lobby. It was the on the Clearance Rack for $3.00 a yard. Thus, I purchased one yard of my raw silk material to cover my blue chair.

$3.00 yellow silk from Hobby Lobby

I was lucky in that the chair's bones were in really great condition and I happen to love the color blue. My husband, on the other hand, is not totally sold on another chair in our house and the fact that it's blue is not winning any votes. It's kind of a silly story, but I will tell you anyway.

So, I have a bit of a habit. I really like to collect old, vintage and antique chairs. Most would not object to such a trade, but my husband and I use to live in a 1500 square foot farmhouse in the country. There wasn't a whole lot of room for extra chairs and antiquties that needed some TLC. But, that did not stop me from stopping on the side of the road and picking up what other people had thrown out.

Don't get confused. I am not a dumpster diver or a hoarder. I am looking for items that, with care, could have another life. Lots of people do it and I am certainly not the first.

Anyways, so I would rummage through yard sales and junk shops to find pieces I could recreate. My first purchase were two Queen Anne end tables that I picked up at a garage sale. The man wanted to get rid of the end tables immediately and said he would give me the pair for $50. Well, the end tables were in great condition and the marble tops were orignal to the pieces. You know the kind that lift off and weigh close to $100 pounds? Yep, that's them. So, I took my steal of a deal home. I sanded, stained and sealed my new end tables. I recently went into a high end antique store and found a similar end table. The price for the one, you ask? That's right. The ONE end table was priced at a whopping $350. And...my end tables are so much nicer.


                  


Okay, so you are asking "What does the hubs have to complain about?" Well, after this first magnificent purchase I went a little nuts. Next, I found two chairs. One at a yard sale and one at a junk store. I don't think I even paid $20 total for both of them. One was in pretty rough condition and the other just needed stripping and restaining. I covered both with some material that my mom had at home.


                                       
        


I was pretty pleased how both turned out, which only fueled me to find and refinish more. By this time, we were at a maximum capacity at our little 1500 square foot farmhouse in the country. We had a home full of furniture (and I was not slowing down at the adding of more) plus 4 dogs that we had collectively rescued at some point in our lives. I thought David was going to have a heart attack. But, it didn't stop me.




Our Collection of Pups - Goose, Kya, Bella and Tank


I was driving along Highway 72 in Madison County, Georgia when I saw 6 formal dining chairs on the side of the road in front of a huge horse farm. I immediately pulled over in my black F-150 and loaded all six chairs up in the back. I knew that David would not be pleased that I was brining MORE chairs into our tiny space, but everyone knows that formal dining chairs are the expensive part of the dining room table and chair combo. Structurally, all of the chairs were in great condition. I couldn't believe my luck! Six beautiful chairs for free!

So, my mom and I sanded, restained and covered these chairs with upholstery that we found at an antique store in Thomasville, Georgia. We bought the whole role of upholstery for $15 dollars. Ah-mazing! The chairs turned out incredible and I had the most expensive part of my formal dining room-to be. Now, I just needed a table and a house with a formal dining room.

            

Aftering storing my beautiful dining chairs in our cute bungalow in the country (which completely irritated my husband to have six chairs stored in the guest bedroom of our two bedroom home), we now officially have our own formal dining room. The chairs look great in the room and they look even better to me because I know how much money I did NOT pay for them! :)

Despite my talent in restoring old chairs, my husband still teases me every time I go junk store shopping or garage sale hopping that I "better not bring home anymore chairs." Well, you see how well I listen.

So, I purchased the vintage blue chair from Agora about a week ago and I hid it in one of our guest rooms that I knew he wouldn't have any reason to go in until I could recover it. That was, until he did. He found my forbidden fruit! But, he just shook his head and said "I knew it. I just knew it." He knows I cannot control my need to purchase/find old chairs to recover as much as he can control his desire to fly airplanes, ride dirt bikes or any other intense, life threatening, little boy's dream hobby he can have.

So, after all of that, let's get back to my blue chair that started this whole post. Here is the before picture of my blue chair again.
                                                       
                                                      

                 And here is the finished product. Do you love it as much as I do?

       


My new blue chair goes perfectly in my guest bedroom. And on a really good note, the hubs doesn't hate it as much as he thought he did. All is right in the world again...and I have plenty of places for you to sit. :)