Alright, let’s talk about this little project I finished up – the ‘grace chairs’. It wasn’t anything too grand, just something I got stuck into over a few weekends.
Finding the Raw Material
So, it started when I stumbled across these two old wooden chairs tucked away at a flea market. Looked pretty beat up, honestly. Finish was peeling, one had a bit of a wobble. But the shape, you know? They had this nice curve to the back, looked kinda elegant underneath the grime. Thought they had potential, so I haggled a bit and hauled them home.
Getting Down to Business
First thing I did was give them a good scrub down. Just soap and water, trying to see what I was really dealing with. Lots of dirt came off. Then I really inspected them. Joints seemed mostly okay, just needed tightening up. The wobble was a loose leg joint, easy enough fix. The biggest job was going to be stripping off whatever varnish or paint was already on there.
I got myself some paint stripper – nasty stuff, gotta be careful. Put on gloves, worked outside. Slathered it on, waited, then scraped. And scraped. And scraped some more. Made a right mess. It took a couple of rounds to get most of the old finish off. After that, it was sanding time. Started with rougher sandpaper to get the remaining bits off and smooth out scratches, then worked my way down to finer grit. Dusty work, but you gotta do it right to get a good base.
Fixing and Finishing
With the chairs stripped and sanded, I tackled the repairs. For the wobbly leg, I carefully pulled the joint apart a little, cleaned out the old glue residue as best I could. Then I squeezed in plenty of new wood glue, clamped it tight, and let it sit overnight. Checked it the next day – solid as a rock. Felt good.
Now for the fun part, relatively speaking. Choosing the finish. I didn’t want to just slap paint on them and hide the wood grain, especially after all that stripping. Decided on a dark stain, something rich to bring out that ‘grace’ vibe I was thinking of. Applied the stain with a rag, wiped off the excess. Let it dry. Did a second coat to get it deeper.
Once the stain was fully dry – and I mean fully dry, gotta be patient – I put on a protective topcoat. Just a clear satin varnish. Brushed on a few thin layers, sanding lightly between coats. This protects the wood and gives it a nice subtle sheen, not too glossy.
The End Result
And that was pretty much it. Cleaned them up one last time. Stepped back and had a look. Honestly, they turned out better than I expected. From sad-looking flea market finds to something quite smart, sturdy too. They’ve got character now, you know? Worth the scraped knuckles and the cloud of sawdust in the garage. Yeah, pretty pleased with my ‘grace chairs’.
