Thursday, August 6, 2015

Renovating Poker Chairs

Aaron found a couple chairs at Goodwill that he thought we could refinish and resell. I thought we'd be able to use them for our new desk, but it turns out they are a bit short. The original fabric was billiards themed and rather faded. 
Removing the chair cushions wasn't too hard, aside from digging out the wood plugs. Once the chairs were disassembled, we lightly sanded the frames with stain and poly in one. I hadn't used this product before, and I'm not sure that I like it. Even though staining and sealing separately takes more time and effort, I think it's easier to control that this product. At first, I tried to use too much at once - I expected the consistency to be in between stain and poly, but it was nearly as watery as regular stain.

This was also my first fabric recovering job. It was like wrapping an awkward gift with staples. I don't think it's that great, but Aaron things I'm being overly critical. Because of how the chairs were constructed, I was advised to just cover the existing fabric instead of removing it. This was probably wise, but I had to scrub them down well before starting. 
The original fabric was heavier, so getting the staples in at some of the corners was tough. I bought three yards of fabric, but used less than two. I think the finished product looks fine, but I think I'd prefer regular desk chairs.