Recently I did refinish some of the old furnitures that I got. It all started with the 4 midcentury modern Scandia Chairs that I bought from a neighborhood consignment store for $25. I have been thinking of refinishing them and was wondering how to do it. Finally, our friend Andrew Rhys Jones said he knows how to work on old furnitures and can help me during the summer vacation. Andrew did spearheaded this project and brought all his tools. We started it by going to the neighborhood hardware store (Cobbs Hardware). WE also had to make several trips to Home Depot since the neighborhood store did not have some of the stuff we needed. There went our plan to do the project entirely with the local small business and avoid the corporate giants like Home depot! But in the process we learnt that Some of the stuff like paint brush and paint strippers were cheaper at Cobbs than Home Depot! Paint brushes are also made in USA as opposed to Home Depot ones from China!
The project started with repairing one chair, stripping paints and re-staining them. It ended with refinishing bunch of other furnitures such as a coffee table, a midcentury modern end table (from Lane), old antique stool, a teak outdoor table, and a oak tea cart as well as a small mango wood antique shelf. Most of these furnitures except the coffee table bought from garage sale for $5 or less. Teak outdoor table and two chairs came to me from a friend (Jean Carol) in neighborhood who gave me the set. During the refinishing project my friend Jennifer Sjoberg came and help me to do oil polish my midcentury modern teak veneer dining table which I was given to me by my friend Nancy Loevinger about 8 years ago. It is her grandmother's dinning table from 1960s.
It is truly a project which would not have been completed without the help of my global village! I am thankful to all of you and thank you Andrew for taking the initiative and teaching me how to do refinishing furniture.
Here are the pictures:
