Did you save some furniture today?

Happy New Year!

Yeah, I have been out of the blogging loop for the last couple of months. Hell let’s call it like it’s been, a year. 2008 was crazy work as we welcomed my son Kooper into the world (AKA“the Chairboy”).

Just an up and down year in the shop with the economy slowly going down the drain but we survived and are stronger for it. With the economy the way “they say” it is, it’s even more of a reason to restore your furniture and save some money. Even buy used furniture or an Antique and restore it. At the end of the day you’ll have a like new used unique piece that is better quality and cost less than anything you’ll buy new. Check out these pieces below that I am selling.

Here is a great example of a used furniture score. Six solid mahogany shieldback chairs, what a deal. They have fantastic needle point seats and carved detail on the backs. They will however need to be restored.

her is the deal I offer on restoration projects in my shop..

They will cost $175 each refinished and $85 each for the seat redo. The only other cost could be for new fabric if the new owner isn’t into needlepoint. Bottom line, the cost would be $260 each for chairs that would retail at $400 or $500 each. That’s reusing and recycling baby!

Here is another great side of the road score. Yeah, the chairman can’t just drive by. He’s saving one piece of furniture at a time! Again recycling and keeping another piece out of our landfills.
This leads into what’s new for the Chairman in 2009! I will be offering environmentally friendly restoration options, safe non-chemical stripper as well as finishing with no or low VOC finishes. We have finally found some water based finishes that work! Also some fantastic oil and wax fishes that rock!
This roadside table was stripped with an eco-friendly stripper and finished with an oil and wax finish! For more info shoot me an email or leave a comment.

See ya next time.. save some furniture folks!

Buy this table & chairs!

Look at this Table and chairs I am selling this week.

Check out these chairs..

How about this table..

Remember Buy old stuff.. It will last longer then anything new you purchase!

Email me for pricing check out more pictures on my flickr site.

STOP don't buy that new furniture, get an antique !

Please stop buying new furniture. This will be a quick blog but i hope it makes you think.. I repair and restore furniture for a living right, so i see allot of things.

Here is quick look at a brand new "Lane" desk (1800.00 new). It was dropped off a moving truck landing on its leg. No the leg didn't break the side piece broke.

It cracked open like a pinyatta at a birthday, but instead of candy all that came out was paper.

Yes paper, its crazy but this brand new piece of "fine furniture" was nothing but mahogany veneer on Masonite or pressed paper.. Check out the picture, its sad.

So before you buy new consider buy a used piece of furniture and restoring it. Anything pre 1980 will be better then anything made today. Think about this; you will pay or can pay 2k and up for just a good quality dining room table. For 1000,00 you can buy a complete used dining room set you can restore it for less then a whole new dining room set and you will still have a better quality set for cheaper.

But If you do decide to buy new no worries the chairman can fix it..

Danish Modern, Mid century Modern Oh My ! Restored !

This weeks Piece !!Here is a nice & quick Job for the terminally hip, fatally cool crowd. I will delve into the wonderful world of Danish Modern furniture. No it’s not just about Chairs & Antiques with the chairman. Mid century modern stuff comes though the shop all the time ! I love the clean lines & working with teak.

Just a quick disclaimer: This job will require a good respirator & needs to be done in a well ventilated area. I will not be held responsible for the brain cells you will lose if you don't use a respirator & follow all the manufactures detail instructions on the finish you use.

Sweet now that, that's over.. here it is !

It's a very funky & unusual Danish modern Umbrella stand. I had never seen one before this. (It is for sale in my shop) Best of all I got it from the side of the road !

First, I like to clean the piece with denatured Alcohol & extra fine steel wool (0000) This will clean all the built up grime that's on your piece. Make sure your wearing your respirator while doing this.. After you've cleaned the piece, dry it with a paper towel.

After it has dried I take 320 grit wet/dry sand paper & sand the pieces down. You’re looking to do a little more then scuff the finish. This will help get rid of the rest of the grim & prep the old finish for re-oiling. Now wipe all that dust off with a paper towel dampened with denatured alcohol.

Now that its prepped, let’s get to oiling ! For this piece I went with teak oil, it’s easy to use & the finish builds up quickly. I did a karate kid style process, Rag on rag off grass hopper.. Soak your rag & apply your oil (wearing your mask) Covering all the wood lightly making sure everything is damp. Let the oil soak in for about thirty minutes , then wipe the excess off with a paper towel. Pop your next coat on in about an hour following the same process.

I went with just two coats of oil on the umbrella stand. I let it dry for about 10hrs or overnight. Then as a finishing touch I added a coat of butchers wax, that will give the finish a little extra protection.

So while I waited for the wood to dry I cleaned the metal holder & repainted the inside. So all said & done here is the finished product !
If you have any question just shoot me an email chairguy5@gmail.com !

“I want them to look like this”, she said!

“I want them to look like this”, she said! As she showed me a page she had yanked out of Better Homes & Garden.

Trends from magazines & doing requests… I love it all… bring it on. This was the other job this week, a trendy yet stylish number on an old set of plank seat chairs. It was romance from the get-go, a song & dance, a wine & diner. Phone calls, emails, drive bys. It never happens on the first time (getting the job). It’s hard for folks to change something, so sometimes you have to walk them through it, do a little hand holding.

These chairs have been in her family for years. They had two or three layers of paint of for each generation. When we stripped them we saw anything from that 1920’s green to the dark blues of the 1940’s/50’s to the 80’s greens of the 80’s & finally just black for the last 20 years... Needless to say they were a bear to strip. I won’t even go into striping them, it's still a little traumatic for me & more so for my Uumpa Llumpa.

Having to wine & dine a job is not usual. After seeing so many pieces of furniture transformed over the years. I forget that most folks can’t see beyond what a piece is right here & now. They can’t see its potential future or what it can could become. That’s why so many pieces are lost to the dumpster or landfill. It’s easy for someone to just toss it & buy a new one, god for bid they think about.

Here is a quick funny tail from the shop. I jumped in my truck one morning to run to the store. Its garbage pick up that day. I drive by a house & spot a small table. I stop and look, it’s a sexy little Victorian era side table, long turned legs with a turtle shaped top. It ends up one of the legs is broken, but all the pieces are there. It’s an easy fix, so I grab it. Being a good OCD’er I bring it back to my shop & fix it that day, I polished it up ( it looked beautiful). So I popped it in my shop for sale.

Not more then a 4 days later a guy stops into my shop. I realize this is the guy from the house that I got the table from (cross eyed). He says; I am looking for a small table to replace one that was broken!
Being a good wise ass, I say I think I may have one for you… We walked into my make shift show room and I show him the table. I say I think you threw this out on Tuesday and , Hhe’s says yeah I had broken it. I tell him I would be happy to give it to him for the repair cost (much less then the resale price). He gets all funny, I think really embarrassed that he didn’t get it fixed himself. He then goes I never liked that table… keep it. Then he departed with out the table...

BACK to the blue chairs we glued and & we stripped. Next, We sanded and filled. The nice thing about a repaint is you don’t have to do as much detail work, especially since it’s an “antiqued” look. Doing an antiqued/distressed finish, you want all the dents & dings and some of the rough edges all that equals character & that what we're looking for.

The color, this was funny. When she said we decided on spa blue I thought to myself, sweet baby hey-zues what did I get myself into. Then I saw the picture & it made sense. So spa blue it was !

I decided to do a rag it on & wipe it off, approach (karate kid style)to the staining/painting of the chairs; Oh and a little dry brushing to temp the blend (love saying that), It’s the perfect way to create all the different depths in that antiqued finish. When you “wipe off” I use a damp paper towel & work the areas that would have been worn over the years. The seat, center & edges and the back spindles & side edges and don’t forget the front spindle (pictured) That always has the best ware. After the paint dries I usually hit all the sharp edges with 320 wet/dry sand paper doing so that we can quickly expose the natural wood.

Finishing... On this kind of finish I think it’s very important to throw a clear coat or two to protect the antiqued finish, it also guarantee’s it will last for a good long time. I like to go with a quick coat of a shellac sanding sealer (best over paint), then a couple of coats of satin lacquer. Please do a quick sanding between coats (400grat wet/dry), the 10 minutes it takes will make all the difference in the look & feel of the piece.

After they’ve dried for about 12+ hours, we take superfine steel wool (0000) & a very soapy mix of water then rub the chairs down & dry them off. This smoothes the finish out & gets rid of any over spray.

~Chairman