5 Shabby Chic Chairs

Now, this was a big commission! A couple wanted a whole set of chairs for their dinning room, and they chosed these cute ones from the first decades of the last Century: I had two pairs of the same model and a single one, but giving them all the same treatment created a harmonious group.

It was a lot of work, as all of them were pretty solid but the wood needed treatment, on top of sanding, painting (with a costumized off-white tone), varnishing, polishing... and creating four seats from scratch! (I used pinewood slats, that I cut to measure and stained in a mix of mahogany and wengue colour).

Here below you have them in detail. Check the 'Making Of' pictures for a detailed description of the transformation process at the bottom of this long post.

2 CHAIRS FROM THE 20s

Measures: seat 39cm diameter, 47cm high. Total height 90cm.

A 1930s DINNING CHAIR

Measures: seat 40x 40cm, 47cm high. Total height 100cm.

2 CHAIRS FROM THE 30s

Measures: seat 40cm diameter, 47cm high. Total height 90cm, approx.

THE MAKING OF:

The vintage set of chairs, prior their transformation

Removing a damaged seat - Scrubbing

Thorough sanding by hand, one by one... this took a while!

Treating the wood, filling each little hole with the product and letting the chairs 'cure', wrapped up in plastic for several days (not shown) - Afterwards, filling each hole with a special paste.

Now, the fun part starts: painting the chairs with a self-made off-white tone (several coats, very thin)

Making a distressed effect to let the dark wood underneath show and to highlight the features of each piece.

For the chair that already had a seat, it was almost over: just staining, varnishing and a good polishing. Done!

As for the rest..... Cutting the pinewood boards to measure - Sanding the edges of each future seat.

Applying several layers of stain to get a reddish, dark tone

Varnishing the structures and the seats - Polishing to get a smooth, sating finish

And, finally, fastening the four seats to the chairs. Voilà!