Have a Seat

I've been AWOL again, and it's my own fault.  I overdid it last week with the thrift sale, and I have been paying the price in pain and fatigue.  I don't know when I'll learn...

Anyway, I did want to drop in this evening and update on the dining room progress.  As I've reported, I have finished the china cabinet, side board and table.

There's just one little problem. 
It didn't come with chairs.

I have spent the past few months trying to find chairs to compliment the set. I'm not entirely sure what I want, but I know that I don't want new ones.

I have looked and looked...

So far, I either haven't loved the style,

haven't loved the finish, 

or haven't loved the price. 

I loved all three with this one...

Unfortunately, that was the problem. 

There was only one. This poor captain had no mates. 

So for now, I am working on a temporary solution

so I can take my time and find exactly what I want. 

You see, the set did come with two matching mahogany chairs.

They were a mess. 

Lucky for me, I like a challenge.

. 

 Even luckier? All they needed was a good cleaning. The finish was fine.

I use Murphy's Oil Soap for furniture cleaning.

 For these, I used it full strength on a rag. 

Then  I followed with a weaker solution

and gently rinsed, trying not to get it too wet. 

I tried to snap a comparison shot in progress 

since I'm a blogger and all...

I found the perfect butter yellow damask for the seat cushions 

in the sale bin at JoAnns.

 I was thrilled with a sale price of only $6.00 a yard.

I was even more thrilled when they took off another 50% at check out.

$3.00 a yard! 

This afternoon, I changed out the cushions.
I had to remove three different fabrics before I could. 

I think the final product looks pretty good.

For the rest of the chairs, I am going to have to get a bit more creative.

There were five more chairs in the storage house that I think might have been used with them at one time. Unfortunately, they were oak. 

If you've ever finished furniture, you know that no matter how much you coax it, 

oak is never going to look like mahogany.

No matter what you do, oak just really looks like oak. 

And you might recall that I'm sick of oak right now.

I decided to paint them black and try to be deliberately quirky.

I used the left over paint from Mabel the desk. 

I haven't recovered these cushions yet,
but I tried them around the table, and I think they'll work while I shop for others,
 especially with the bronzed hardware.

Once I replace them, I'm going to use them to switch things up in my kitchen.
I'm thinking houndstooth seats in there...

Anyway, that's what I did today.
I hope to catch up in blog land.
I hope you will be patient as I do.