street find turned sweet find

I know most of you remember the Saarinen chair I found in the streets of Jersey City last year and I already gave you a little peek of the finished chair on Instagram. Here is the story how I found it. P and I were on our way to visit friends to have a spontaneous bbq last summer, on our way we stopped at a liquor store to pick up some beer. While I was waiting outside the store with our bikes I spotted the chair about half a block away. It got me so excited but I was also afraid somebody else would snatch it up before I could get to it. Luckily nobody did and I grabbed it. I pushed my bike with one hand and the chair with the other to our friends place which was only one or two blocks away. I made a happy dance when I found out the Knoll tag was still in place and also found a Met Life Insurance Co. inventory sticker underneath the seat as well. Somebody was probably sitting in this chair working on insurance claims, or selling insurance or something like that. In September I started my second upholstery class and it was finally time to work on the chair. When I took off the old vinyl fabric I got hit by a mildewy smell, the chair must have been sitting out in the rain and the foam never dried completely for a long time. So I did what everybody in my situation would do and soaked the backrest and seat in a water and bleach solution in our tub, as well as one round in a vinegar and water solution and let it air dry in the sun. After the pieces were dry they didn't smell anymore and the re-upholstery could begin. Unfortunately I didn't finish the chair in the last class but I started another class in February and last week I finally finished it. Love how it turned out, it is such a big departure from the sad ripped and somewhat flesh colored chair I started with.

Have a great weekend my friends! I have some more painting planned for this weekend (bar cart and side table), I am on a roll right now and need to take advantage of it to get as much done as possible. There will be times ahead when I do not feel like doing much on the weekends. On Sunday I will be visiting a friend in Connecticut I haven't seen in forever. Looking forward to a fun weekend. Do you have any plans?

another curbside find

Last week on Thursday I went to see a play with a friend. After the play I took the bus home from NYC, which is not my usual route but the theater was close to the bus station. Walking home from the bus stop I found this chair. The cushions were missing which is not a big deal because they might have been yucky anyways. I think the chair will clean up nicely with a little bit of work and once I work on my sewing skills I can hopefully sew some box pillows for it.

My list of projects for 2012 is growing steadily and 2011 didn't even end yet...

new (old) chairs

Another post for the category one man's trash is another man's treasure...

This chair and five other ones just like it were sitting on the side of the road on trash day across the street from our house a little over a week ago. First I took only one home but later thought having a pair would be nice. Even later that evening I went out again to snatch two more because you can never have too many chairs and four of a kind would even be better than a pair. Well already someone beat me to it and there was only one chair left. Boohoo! But I took the last one home and now I have three more projects sitting in the basement. Let's hope for a long & cold winter so I can hole myself up in the basement and finish everything...

Some parts of the wood frames took quite a beating in their lifetime and will have to be sanded and refinished. The seat cushion and backrest are upholstered with Vinyl, some have small holes in them. Also they are a bit smelly, they might have been sitting in somebody's basement for a while. A new fabric to replace the vinyl will also bring the chairs back to life.

As you can see in the last picture they have been made by Boling Chair Company in 1971, which makes them officially older than me ;)

finished plycraft chair

The Plydraft chair I rescued back in April from being thrown into the garbage is finally finished. After gluing the cracked plywood back together I sanded the backrest/armrest and decided on staining it Dark Walnut from Minwax. To protect the wood I applied two or three layers of Minwax Polycrylic in semi-gloss.

The base got a good cleaning and was polished with brasso. I also replaced the feet with new ones. Because I couldn't find plastic ones that matched the last one that was still in place I bought metal swivel glides. Then it was time to pick a fabric which was actually the hardest part. I ordered a bunch of fabric samples through work. First I wanted to go black and white as usual but then decided to go with some color and ended up with turquoise*.

Taking of the fabric revealed some dry rot and I had to replace the foam. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of rebuilding the seat.

And now, without further ado, here is the finished result. My very first upholstery project. Not too bad right? The first picture is actually a little reminder of what the chair looked like when I got it...

All in all it was a pretty easy project that could have been finished much faster if I had committed more time to it. For all the materials needed I spend about $100, with the fabric being the most expensive item. The fabric I found on ebay for less than the contract price and I still have enough leftover to sew a pillow.

*The fabric is actually called Letters (in 006 Aqua) by Gunnar Aagaard Andersen, 1955 from the Maharam Textiles of The 20th Century® collection.

chair - continued

The chair I rescued from its tragic end on a landfill back in April finally made the journey to our place now. I had to drag it onto the path and after that take it on a bus ride. I have already disassembled it, ripped off the broken feet and brought the chrome back to life with Brasso.

When I took it apart I discovered that it was made by Plycraft in September of 1964. Still have to find out more about the manufacturer. The plywood of the armrest/backrest is cracked and somebody already tried to fix it a while back. I have been trying to glue it back together. Hope it will work as planned. Already started thinking about what kind of fabric I would use to upholster the seat.

More updates to follow soon...

bathroom radiator cover

The renovation of our upstairs bathroom is nearing its end. Yay! To complete the project we only need a door or rather refinish the one we have and hang it as I already mentioned in my last post...

Last weekend I finally hung the shutters that I found in our basement and turned into a radiator cover. On the first pictures you can see how it was covered before we started the renovation. After I took the cover down I knew we needed something that gave us access to the radiator whenever needed, one thing the old one didn't do. When I finally pried the old one open it was broken but it didn't look that good anyways...We thought about building a frame around the opening in the wall and then have some kind of door to access the radiator. Then I remembered the shutters I saw lying around in the basement, they were not in best shape but I thought some paint and pretty knobs could fix it. Had my eyes on the Snodd knob from Ikea for a while but was never sure where to use it. Finally I found the perfect project! We had the contractor who did the bathroom renovation also built the frame for us.

First I had to clean the shutters, then sanded them with fine sand paper. After that they got a coat of oil based primer and two coats of Benjamin Moore White Diamond, the same color I used for the rest of the trim as well as the walls. I even spray painted the thingies black that connect and move the individual shutters. Not that you can really see it but it's a nice touch and lately I have developed an addiction to spray painting...The oil base primer I used for the shutters also came in a spray can...Lucky me!