OK, well maybe I have a little problem with collecting too much old furniture to refinish.
Dining Room
Two very nice black Windsor chairs with gold stencil and exposed pine seats. About 50-70 years old. Comfortable.
The paint is coming off in big chips in a few places, and one rung has been split and badly repaired.
At minimum we need some butt rugs. Then deal with the paint.
UPDATE: Evaluate these and then keep in the kitchen. Maybe paint them white or some bright color. But keep the wooden seats.
A spindle back chair from the 1930s. The paint is so thick that you can't see the carving in the back. One of the front legs has been gnawed by Fritzy.
In Northern Michigan, this type of chair is plentiful and might be thrown away, but you really don't see them on Long Island.
Strip, refinish (repaint?), fill the gouges in the leg, make a butt rug.
Could work with the windsor chairs in the kitchen
Breakfast Room
I like these a lot. Very comfortable. And probably have some resale value as is.
4 white, 1 dark green.
Could stand to lightly refinish/bleach the wood and bleach out the stains in the plastic, but I'm not sure how.
Could use a butt rug.
LIGHTLY REFINISH THE WOOD....
Dining Room
Four chairs. These are our most comfortable chairs. Well made in the US in the 60s. Emily thinks the upholstery is really cool.
The finish is worn out: sticky in places. I've made progress with a stripper/refinisher, but it was a big job.
I'm considering some sort of interesting painting arrangement.
I even bought red fabric to reupholster the seats.
UPDATE 12/12/08 These are turning out to be beautiful!!!
Am refinishing with 1 coat of rub on poly, followed by several coats of tinted poly, applied with a rag.
UPDATE 6/12/11 (2.5 years later)
4 chairs:
A is finished but needs tightening
B is finished but seat needs upholstering (partly done)
C is in the basement being stripped
D is in the dining room and still looks like the one pictured here.
2 nice quarter sawn oak. Chairs like at my Grandma's house.
Need complete refinishing. Perforated plywood seats. The back of one of them is split, and they don't match each other. One has been painted white, and I've barely started stripping it.
Need butt rugs.
These will be supplemental chairs for when we need 6 at the Danish table. They go nicely with the teak chairs and should be refinished to match.
Basement
Spindle back rocker given to me by a friend who was throwing it out.
By L.Z. Kamman Co. of Gardner, MA. Probably 1960s. Good quality furniture, painted black. Needs repainting. Red calico cushions: back and butt.
Comfortable and sturdy
Similar chairs offered on eBay for $50 to $175??
I've been trying to sell it on Craigslist and local paper. No takers.
Would work in our new reading room, or any guest room. I like it better than the Amish Rocker.
Could give it a quick spray paint and replace the cushions. Not worth stripping.
They look nice, but they are really uncomfortable. Small, slippery seat and no flexibility to the back. They are the most expensive chairs we own.
Also, they are boring.
Butt rugs.
Update: gave one to Adam. Now down to 3.
Four of them for $65 each about 15 years ago. They are lightweight and comfortable. Easy to move around.
But the upholstery is stained and the foam is getting thin. Luckily, I saved some very dense foam from some chairs I found by the side of the road. Maybe I can find the time....
To be tightened up and the foam and upholstery replaced.
We've had this a long time. I'm not too crazy about it.
Butt rug.
Also, one leg has snapped near the seat. The finish needs to be redone.
But it has character.
We rocked our babies in this chair which we got from John and June when they left for England.
A slat is broken and a rung has been gnawed. The cushions are down, and need minor work.
What to do?
Adam said he wanted us to keep this, so I fixed it up for now:
duct taped the broken slat
sewed a new loop onto the back pillow
filled and stained the gnawed wood
polished the arms
It's still rickety. It needs to go somewhere other than the living room.
Living Room
These love seats are almost finished, but they are not comfortable because the cushions are too deep.
Replace cushions.
Tighten up the apron, restaple the skirt, hand-sew welting to get rid of the plygrip that's poking out.
We made this chair from a kit. But it's not too comfortable. It's just 1/2 inch lower than a regular chair.
David really likes it. One rung has come loose.
Another butt rug.
Beautiful work on the spindles: they are in a spiral pattern.
Needs complete refinishing. The seat needs to be caned.
Or upholster the center of the seat.
Basement
I upholstered this, but it's not quite done.
Repair right arm which has come loose.
Cushion to be replaced with one that's flatter.
Welting around the wood/arm join.
Fill and paint feet.
I bought 6 of these for $65.
Two I gave to the University archives since they were from the original university campus at Coe Hall in Oyster Bay.
Two I had reuphostered (photos to follow).
Two were sold
FIXED-BUT GOING TO THE REC ROOM ASAP.
Made in the 90s and held together by small metal clamps. Last winter the table warped badly, all the clamps came undone, and it basically fell apart.
FIXED!!! It took lots of sanding plus 5 coats of wipe-on polyurethane.
Ring from a wet jar of iced tea.
Try bleach.
Then wax it up good.
GONE!!
SOLD!!!
This came from Uncle Ken's apartment and could be a real treasure.
It's both heavy and fragile. There are a couple of bad spots on it, but I had it polished so the shine is pretty good.
The base broke some years ago. The legs we replaced are really too weak, and the table wobbles and jiggles.
