Monday, March 7, 2011

Shabby Chic White Chair ( How One Man's Trash Became My Treasure )

 

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, one of my neighbours had left an armoire, side table and T.V. on the end of his driveway, with a sign saying "free". I, of course grabbed them up with the intention of transforming them into something " awsome," at a later date. The T.V. is happily living in my husband's " man-cave" in the basement (this room will one day ,of course, be redecorated). But for now, it holds an assortment of mismatched furniture no longer wanted upstairs, and my "found" treasures. I will be revamping the armoire and side- table soon, in a future post, but for today I have another tale of a discarded treasure

It seems this same neighbour is moving, and as I was driving by the abandoned house, I spied a little white chair sitting out by the side of the road.... in the dark.... all alone. I stopped the car and got out. Could it be a hidden treasure? Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was indeed made of wood- a little rickety, and definately in wrough shape. The paint was chipping off ( bonus in my books), and it looked a little grungy. And it was covered in snow. But no matter- I took that lonely little chair home with me.

This is what the chair looked like when I found it ( after a good cleaning with TSP). Oh, and I had to put a little wood glue between the two front legs and the seat cuz it was a little wobbly.

  It already looks kind of Shabby Chic, but I can do better !!!!!!


 Here's the chair in it's original condition.

These are the original cracked and chipped areas of the chair. Close-up detail of the front.
Here's a close-up of the back. It's already chipping- so I don't have to do much to it.

Took out the handy-dandy palm sander ( in freezing,snowy weather)
Thank god we have a car-port for shelter)

I really should have warn gloves- my hands were freezing.  But I did wear the oh-so-fashionable dust-mask and safety goggles!!!! ( Sorry- no pics as the hubby was at work)
Then I sanded some more areas that still looked to shiny.  I went right to the bare wood in some spots, and in other spots I just smoothed out the really rough chips and cracks.  Don't worry- I left plenty of chippy paint for that lovely Shabby Chic look.

See the nice big chips toward the back of the chair!!!!!! Now that I'm thoroughly freezing, I dust off the chair and take it back into my work area for some final touches.

I hot-glued some antique-finish furniture tacks over the exposed steel screws, after clipping off the part that sticks into the wood.
Then I added  more antique- finish furniture tacks to the front for some extra detail.  Now, all I had to do was go over the whole chair with a light coat of brown shoe polish ( I read about this technique on an
 e-how posting on the web).  It gives  the painted wood an aged look, darkens the newly sanded areas, and protects the chair all in one.  Great, cheap idea !!!!!!

Now she's ready to go to her new home in my living room.  I decided to use it as a display table/plant stand since it's pretty rough for sitting on.  I can just see my mother sitting on it and ripping her pants ( Youch!!!!)

And here she is in all her Shabby Glory!!!!!!


I really love this option with the blue hydrangeas and the birdhouse, but I already have two bunches of
 off-white hydrangeas in the ajoining living/dining room.

This blue vase is really pretty too!!!!

 
And here's the third option.

  I'm not really sure yet what is going to perch on the chair- maybe one of my readers can make a suggestion.  My living/dining room is antique white and a soft grey/blue combo.  My husband suggested a live trailing plant of some sort- maybe with white flowers. 

Well, there she is......rescued from a life of being thrown in the trash.  I'm really happy with it, and best of all- it was free and very quick to do.

Bye til next time.  Au Revoir!!!!!

 
I'm linking up to Metamorphisis Monday at
Between Naps on  the porchhttp://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
Made by me Mondays ><img src="http://www.skiptomylou.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/button2.jpg" /></a><br />























































15 comments:

  1. I have a chair in my post too, I received some flowers as a hostess gift and decided to plop them onto my old chair in the living room where everyone sat with our drinks so we could all enjoy them. You can see them on my blog if you'd like to stop by. Your chair is just darling, I love how you distressed it a bit more. Everything you put on it looks great, think my fave is the pitcher. Stopping over from Sarah's, have a wonderful Wednesday, xoxo tami

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  2. Great job on the chair! And what a great price too. I love it with the flowers in the third photo.
    ShawNa~

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  3. What a great job you did! And it looks simply beautiful!
    have a wonderful week!
    Smiles~
    Cricket

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  4. I didn't know you could use shoe polish on furniture...and I love how you used the tacks, I have chairs that could use those to cover the exposed screws....another great idea thanks....and your blog looks fantastic!

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  5. The chair looks beautiful! I found your blog at Between Naps on the Front Porch. You have such great ideas and I'm your newest follower! I'd love it if you'd follow me back: http://stillwaterstory.blogspot.com/
    Again, you did a fantastic job with this!! :-)

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  6. How lovely. Really like your blog. I am a follower. Hope to see you at My Dream Canvas.

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  7. wonderful transformation ... I really like the addition of the furniture tacks, nice touch!

    thanks for sharing Voila!

    xo
    Jill

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  8. I love it, and coming from someone who has no hydrangeas suitable for bringing inside, I say you can never have too many.

    Cheers,
    Lisa x

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  9. What a sweet little french looking chair. I think a pretty cascading green plant would be a pretty option as well.
    xo,
    Sena

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  10. I really like the way you've styled the chair in different ways. It looks gorgeous! I think my favourite is with the jug. So pretty!

    I'm your new follower!

    Sarahx

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  11. Some of my favorite finds were curbside once upon a time. =)

    I vote for option three. I love the white/cream mix.

    Thank you for sharing your French Inspiration with us.

    Blessings... Polly
    French Cupboard
    Counting Your Blessings

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  12. Such a charming little white shabby chic chair! I love things that are discarded and free-you can find some great stuff at the end of driveways lol! This is a sweet little treasure you brought home! Thanks for sharing at FNF! :)

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  13. It is really, really cute & adorable - I love it!

    I'm a new follower from Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage :O)

    http://SallyLeeByTheSea.com

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  14. That chair really looks so great. I love shabby chic. I am your latest follower. I would love for you to come and check out my blog and follow me back at www.diybydesign.blogspot.com. Thanks so much.

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  15. Love the chair, so shabby chic!! Happy to see all your creative ideas linked up last week at my K.I.S.S. blog bash. Looking forward to seeing what great project you share this week, remember the link is open until tonight @ midnight {CST}.

    Drop by The Tattered Tag

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