Makeover Monday | Striped Chair

A few years ago I found this chair at a local thrift store.  It wasn't much to look at - the faded orange upholstery was less than appealing.  But I liked the clean lines of the chair and the $6.00 price tag so I bought it.

I don't have any pictures of the "in-process tearing apart phase", but the foam and inside of the upholstery was nearly as bad as the outside.  The foam padding was disintegrating and discolored.  For this project I completely redid the upholstery, new padding, webbing and fabric.  The fabric I chose was a more modern striped pattern featuring red with a little green.

For the wooden frame I sanded and refinished with tung oil (with lots of help from my ever helpful husband ;).  The wood had a nice reddish hue, so no stain was necessary.  I am quite happy with the results and the chair now sits in our living room.

Here's another side-by-side view, before and after:

The colors in the chair are bolder than I normally like in upholstered furniture, but I see this chair as more of an accent piece.  It also brings some nice color into our living room.

Makeover Monday | Child's Desk

One thing that I love to do is to take old things and make them new again.  For example, when I was a kid my parents bought a little wooden desk for me (at an auction sale I believe).  I remember playing with that little desk many, many times while growing up.  It suffered abuse from myself and my siblings as well as many cousins.  When my mom was cleaning out our childhood home I took the little desk back to my apartment and put it in the garage with the intention of refinishing it for my future (though I wasn't even married at the time) children to play with.  The desk was in pretty tough shape, but to me the effort would be worth it.

Before - Look at all the writing!

You can see that the desk top was covered with crayon and really scratched up.  The rest of the desk was also very worn and much of the finish was gone (the arm shows my beginning attempt to sand the desk).

Before - Side shot.

I worked on the desk when I had the chance and ended up taking it completely apart to sand in all the nooks and crannies better.  The desk got moved in pieces to a new garage before I finally finished it - with the help of my fiance and now husband Jason.  It was Jason who actually helped me with the final finish of the desk.

After - It almost looks new!

The finish on the desk came out great and all the writing is now gone.

After - No more writing, only a beautiful grain pattern.

The finish on the top really brought out the grain pattern in the wood.  I couldn't be happier with the results.  Jaden has already enjoyed many hours of play with the desk.  He loves to sit in the desk and play with his pretend food.

A new generation enjoying the desk.

For a final look at the dramatic changes in the desk top, before and after:

It's amazing what a little sandpaper and a new oil finish can achieve.