Thursday, November 6, 2008

Give Me a Staple Gun, I'll Give You a Chair


A month or so ago I bought a run-down 60's or 70's dining room set at my favorite thrift shop. I was initially pumped up by this awesome score, but I got bummed out when I realized they reeked of cigarette smoke and "old taxi cab." Ick.


A lot of Murphy's Oil Soap helped cut down on the stench, and replacing the foam seats helped, too. They either smell much better now, or we've just gotten used to it, much in the way we don't smell the dog anymore.


Tom stained the table dark brown with gel stain that was a vast improvement over the old orangey color. I spray painted the chairs and made new seat pads and covers with my glue and staple guns. I did a pretty crappy paint job, but the overall effect looks pretty decent. The nice thing is, with all 3 leaves in, and using a hodge podge of chairs, this bad boy will seat 10 people!

Here's the tab:
Table and 7 chairs: $44
New Foam: $15
Zebra Fabric: $18
Blue Velvet: $0 (already had)
Gel Stain: $0 (already had)
Spray paint: $40

$117 for the whole shooting match seems like a pretty good
deal.
Here's an "after" shot:

7 comments:

  1. Will you come down to Georgia and do some fun, thrifty projects for me? It's so NOT my thing but I love what you do with your finds!

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  2. Looks great! Next time show a picture of one of the chairs with the zebra fabric.

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  3. I was thinking the same thing as Kate...a closer picture of the new chairs.

    You did an amazing job and I love zebra print!

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  4. You bet! I'll post one now. I didn't know there were brown and white zebras, did you? :)

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  5. Wow! I remember the photos you posted when you first hauled it all home. What a vast improvement!

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  6. Great work!! Looks so nice! We have light carpet in our house...with a cute pup...that likes to pee pee, too...feel your pain!! ;)

    Kristin
    www.domesticease.com

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  7. I've been watching you from afar for a while now - I'm reading the whole kit and kaboodle from the beginning - I love your peppiness and your style. Keep up the good work!
    [oh, I think I smell supper burning...]

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