Grrr….

So you know those new chairs that I was totally bragging about the other day?  The one’s that I got on major sale that were just “perfect” for our dining room?

Well joke’s on ME!

I should have known from the start that things wouldn’t be as good as they seemed, strictly based on the fact that I was buying new furniture, and new furniture really ain’t my thang!

Let’s recap shall we?

I was getting desperate for chairs to match the farmhouse table and bench that I poured my heart and soul into, and since Craigslist wasn’t panning out, I finally bought these new (eek!) chairs from Wayfair.com.

Unfortunately the color in the photo online was not at all the color that showed up on our front steps (times 3).  The actual color was more of a golden oak which would look horrible with our table and bench.

So in the end what was supposed to be a simple assembly job turned into a major DIY.   And after whining for about 2 days 30 minutes I sucked it up and got to it.  I mean let’s get real, I love a good project.

Here are the chair’s seats in their “before” stage, ready to be worked on.

And here is a before and after shot, after I got down and dirty with my orbital sander.

BIG OOOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lesson: Furniture that had already been stained requires more than a good standing.  It requires stripping!  And not the dollar bill kind.  We’re talking major chemicals, folks.

I moved outside for this one, since chemical stripper is toxic and I refused to die by DIY!

Tools and instructions needed for furniture stripping:

1. Apply stripper using the instructions on the can.
I used a product called Strypeeze, but I’m sure there are “safer” products out there.  Unfortunately I was on a mission to get this done, so I went the toxic route.
2. Let sit for 15 minutes
3. Remove with plastic puddy knife to avoid scratching the wood.
4. Wash (I used a water/TSP solution)
5. Dry
6. Sand again with a fine grit sand paper

Here they are fully stripped (hehe)

Now onto the stain.  I used the same stain as the bench (Minwax in Red Mahogany) for consistency.

Quite the drastic before and after shot, eh?

The last step is apply polyurethane, light sand, and dry….  But since the dry time seems to take forever, I’ll update you once the chairs are officially in the dining room.

Longest project EVAH!!!!

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