What to Do??
I’m joining in on Amanda’s second Decorating Dilemmas Party with a dilemma of my own.
I bought these chairs at an estate sale almost two years ago. I’ve yet to do one thing to improve them. In fact, they look worse now because they spent the summer of 2008 outside. I think that I paid $10.00 for each of them.
This is what they looked like in December of 2007. I had such high hopes for these chairs. I love the design and the fact that they are old.
Here’s what they look like now:
Ick!
This one is a little bent. See how it leans ever so slightly to the right?
The seat on this one has an indentation that holds rainwater.
You can see that both are covered with multiple layers of paint.
Would you keep them? Or would you try to unload them on the next sucker on Craiglist?
If I keep them, what color should they be painted?? How would you remove the old, chipped paint?
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
I don’t know how much it would cost, but I think you can take them to a body shop and they will sand blast them and paint them for you…..I can understand your dilemna…my hubby would throw them away, and I’d be the one wanting to rescue them! 😉
Suzanne
My Nannie has several old chairs in that same style. Hers are a beautiful, brilliant white and have nice little cushions on the seat.
I’d keep ’em and spend a weekend scraping them up…just b/c I’d want to see if I could do it. 😉
What colors do you have with your other outdoor furniture? What about bright red?
Thanks for joining the party!! 🙂 FYI, the link here goes to my wedding toast post, which is funny but probably not much in the way of Decorating Dilemmas. 😉
Honey, send them to me or paint them. My grandmother used to have several of those and I love them. Local Habitat for Humanity store wanted $25 for one.
You can use a rubber mallet to pound out that dip, just be careful. Maybe a board on the other side to get it even. Citrus stripper would work well and not be too nasty to deal with. Strip them down, sand them if necessary, then use metal primer and paint them a fun color. Or both of them white to go with that pretty wicker table.
What colors do you use on your patio/yard area? Fire engine red would be fun, or a bright yellow…or the very pretty aqua or rose or lavender….stripping and sanding if necessary is the worst part. You can always find stuff that will remove the rust pretty easily.
Or send them to me 😀
Well I do think they are quite charming. I think you could use a mouse sander and sand most of the paint down-then use 1-2-3 primer-It is fantastic!! I have used it to paint over laminate. Anyhow, they are darn cute and you’s hate not too atleast try:)
Wow…this IS a dilemma! I can see why you loved the chairs though!
I guess it all depends on how ambitious you are!
I don’t really know about how you would remove the old paint…but if you decide to, I think I pretty ivory would be a good color to paint them.
Then…if you sew (I don’t!)you could make some sunny yellow seat cushions!
I would keep them too and I like Suzanne’s suggestion of having someone sand blast them.
Oh my, definately KEEP them!! If I lived closer to you I’d say get rid of them and then come over to take them off your hands. 🙂 The color depends on where your putting them. I’d paint them purple. 🙂
Hi! Stopping over from the decorating dilemmas party.
I love these chairs! Definitely keep them!! My sis-in-law has a set her dad (former antique dealer) painted up and gave her. Hers are dark red seats with white legs and they look great.
I think the other commenters here have done a better job than I could with instructions (I tend to spraypaint first and ask questions later!)
You got some great advice! I’d probably keep them, too. My grandparents had some similar for years, and they just repainted them every couple of years. They lasted forever!
You could unload them on this sucker – I big-puffy-heart them!
I’d clean up the rust, prime them with Rustoleum and spray paint them. Then you could cut out artsy wrapping paper to make a faux cushion for each of the seats and attach it with an all weather clear coat. Add two cute outdoor pillows and have your iced tea outside!
Oh, definitely keep them and paint them. I think that style of chair looks great in a vibrant color.
I would DEFINITELY keep them. And paint them. I found some awhile back and we painted them. Hubby gave them a good sanding and a couple coats of spray paint.
Here is the post:
http://wendyinflorida.blogspot.com/2009/09/hotel-chairs.html
I discoverd your blog thru ASPTL DI?Y day but I’d KEEP those chairs. In fact, I have similar chairs I just painted almost the same green, LOL!!!
Naval jelly (found at hardware stores) will help with the rust. It’s a pink color and rust disintegrates and then just a light sanding and paint. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have this set, so if you want go get rid of them, I’m in alabama…:-)