My Dumpster Find

I will never forget the day I drove up on two abandoned chairs, I call them my dumpster find. It was the week before school started for students. Teachers were busy preparing for the students return.   It’s the only time teachers can get out of the building for lunch when school is in session.   I was going to lunch with two of my friends at a nearby strip mall when I spotted the two chairs near a dumpster.  I pointed out the chairs sitting near the dumpster to my friends. Since I was in my car I drove over to the dumpster got out of my car and inspected them intensely.

As I observed more closely, the two appeared to be a pair of French style chairs. One of the chairs appeared to be in good condition in need of some tender loving care. The second chair had a broken leg I decided it wouldn’t be going home with me because it needed too much work. I could see the potential in the chair. It just needed some tender loving care, a little paint, and some new fabric. The restoration would give the chair new life and also look fantastic sitting in my living room.

The Work Begins

I called back to my friends in the car,  “one is a definite save, this one will be going home with me if it is here when we finish lunch.” My friends both looked at each other and one said, “Is she serious?” Seeing the condition of the chairs. My friend simply laughed and said, “You’ll see how serious she is once you see the finished project.”

I couldn’t wait to finish lunch so I could load that chair into the trunk of my 240 Volvo.  I don’t know how I did it but the chair fits perfectly into the trunk of the car without a problem.  Man, that Volvo hauled so many furniture purchases and finds over the years.

The chair made it to my porch.  There was no way I would be taking the chair inside my house in the condition it was in.  Thank goodness the weather was warm because I did most of the reconstruction of the chair out on my back porch.

Uphoslstery Tools

Before there were Home and Garden  TV  I learned how to re-upholster furniture by watching two guys out of New York that came on public TV.  The show really boosted my confidence in making me believe that I could also take a piece of furniture and transform it into something different by using a few simple tools and new fabric.

I was fortunate enough to have a local fabric store and an upholstery store in my area in which I was able to buy my tools.  The yellow handled tool is a staple remover.  The black handled device is a utility tool used for spackling and painting. It’s an excellent tool. The most difficult part of the re-upholstering process is removing the staples from the piece.  I’m not kidding this literally can take hours!

Re-building A Chair

Once I broke the chair down and cleaned it up I could then bring it inside and began the real work.  This was the early 2000’s before the internet. In those days you could not find information instantly or watch a how-to youtube video. I had to go to my local library and check out a book on re-stringing the coils in furniture (knotting).  Trust and believe I made a lot of the knotting up as I went along when working on this chair.

I didn’t know what direction I was going with this chair.  It started out green for the simple reason a few years earlier I had refinished a table using the green color.  I wasn’t feeling the green on this chair. At one time the chair spoke to me and said, “please pretty please don’t leave this hideous color on me.”   This chair became a work in progress.

Once I decided on the color for the chair I could see the chair take on new life.  The dragonfly fabric was my choice for the chair.  The dragonfly pattern had such a regal look to it.  The chair became a piece I was proud to display in my home.  The Royal Room is another DIY project that you are sure to want to see.

New Purpose for An Old Chair 

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My dumpster fine, a chair that went from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan.