(Not to be confused with Three French Hens.)
In my funk-ti-tude yesterday, a few good things did happen. As I shared, I was great on my diet, I worked out, and I found some wonderful French chairs. Five of them, in fact. I think the downfall was going out clothes shopping on (statically) the most depressing day of the year. A few of you shared that with me yesterday and I was unaware. Had I known, I may not have ventured out to try on skinny jeans. Talk about depressing. The other really good thing that happened yesterday was all of the sweetness in your comments. A few made me tear up. A few made me smile. All of them made me feel better. I knew you understood and could relate. So, thanks.
Back to the French chairs.
I was driving home from Wild Rose and spotted these chairs. The owners of the store knew of me and we had met briefly once before, so they gave me a "wholesale" price on them. It was so generous of them.
The chairs came out of a hotel and they are in excellent condition, but I don't think the fabric is doing them justice. Time for a reupholstery job, I think.
My conversation with the owner led me to their warehouse, which makes my basement furniture stash look like a grain of sand compared to a beach. "If you like French things, I think we have some chairs for you."
Um...yes.
Oh yes.
Oh no.
Well, the love stopped at the "solid gold dancer" fabric, but that is easy to change.
So, I bought two of the barrel-back French chairs, two arm chairs and one dining chair, for a grand total of five.
My funk from yesterday was carrying into today as well. We had ice and snow last night, so school was cancelled. This meant I didn't get my precious two hours to work while my boys were in preschool. I really needed it, too. They've been angels today, though, and have played nicely together to give me time to duck into my office and work in spurts.
I pulled off the upholstery on the back of the arm chairs. I was hoping the caning was intact, but, as I suspected, it was damaged. I have not tackled recaning furniture, yet, (it's on my list), so I'm going to reupholster the backs.
When pulling apart upholstery, all you need are some wire cutters, gloves and a lot of patience. Trust me on the gloves part. And the patience part. The process of rocking one million nails, tacks and staples out of wood will kill your hands and bring you to the brink. Surprisingly enough, today, it actually improved my mood.
It's also best to try to pull all layers out at the same time. A lot more nails and tacks will come out if there are several layers of fabric pulling on them.
I removed the seats and pulled out a can of paint. Now, I am fortunate to have a paint sprayer, which is awesome for everything, but especially chairs. Unfortunately, my paint sprayer is useless when there's ice and snow and cold. I can't open the doors to ventilate my spray booth, so I have to use a brush just like everyone else.
When painting a chair, flip it over and paint the inside of the legs and the bottom of the arms, back, etc. first. Then, flip the chair over and paint the rest. This is much easier than crawling under each chair and hanging your head upside down, only to realize you missed an entire section of leg that you couldn't see.
I'm painting these chairs with the same paint and finish I used on my trumeau mirror. I'll share the painting part tomorrow.
Oh, several of you asked the name of the silver pattern I showed yesterday. It's Kirk Stieff Rose and it's beautiful. Elegant, but not fussy. My great-grandmother, grandmother and mother all had this pattern and I inherited pieces from each set.
