A great DIY project that was one of my first challenges, was a pair of vintage chairs. Refurbishing these damaged mid century modern chairs and taking them back to their normal blonde tone was my goal. Since they are solid maple they have a lovely rich tone to the wood grain, which could be a challenge to re-create. These 2 chairs came from a company called, “Shelby Williams”, which takes them to that mid century time frame. Let me take you through step by step the artistic creation of refurbishing damaged mid century modern chairs. As a result, this truly made them Fun-ctional again for the next 100 years!
Damaged chair areas
The damage was pretty extensive on two corners, and at the foot bottoms. Also, there were multiple areas missing varnish with scrapes and gouges. One seat was acceptable, but the other had a cut in it so they needed to be reupholstered. I found a lovely bright blue background duck cloth with a coral pattern on it, which will be the new seat coverings.
Turn the chairs over and remove the screws so the seat cushions will come off. Save the hardware in a little baggy so you can keep track of it. Once removed, wash the chairs thoroughly with krude kutter or dixie bell’s, “white lightening” cleaner. I did try some stripper on them, but it just didn’t really work that well. It seemed to just soak in with no results. It may have been related to much of the clear coat being worn off already. At that point I decided to let them dry good and precede with sanding.
Sanding damaged chairs for refurbishing
I did use a few different types of electric sanding tools to make this a bit easier. Along with that, good old hand sanding is necessary in those tight spots and around circular areas. The orbital sander worked great on any flat surface area. As well as, a flat padded sander. Start with a heavier 150 grit sandpaper first, then use 200 to 220 to finish to smoothness. The goal is to get the wood down to a point that you can’t see any clear coat on it’s surface any longer. You want that beautiful natural wood tone to be on the surface. This is also a good time to make sure the chairs are level. Find a nice flat spot and see if they rock at all. If so, take your sander to the bottom of the leg and slowly flatten until the chair sets level without wobbling.
Repair damaged areas on chairs
At this point it’s time to repair any of those gouges or deep scratches. One of the chairs had corners that seemed to be splayed open as if squished from repeated sitting on it. I used a combination of Dixie Belle’s, “mud”, which is a bit more water soluble vs. wood putty. Wanting to go back to the natural wood tone created a problem with the repair since the color matching was starting to be a challenge. After putting layers of mud on and sanding again it left me with one option for matching. To faux the top color enough to match the wood. I did this with a fine paint brush and some actual stain I had painted on as wood grain. Once dry the next project would be to try and condition the wood with some oils to take the color back to a rich tone.
The products used to bring that warm tone back to the wood, was Dixie Belle’s, “Big Mama’s Butta & Howdy-Do hemp seed oil”. Since the wood is raw and open it drank this oil up rather quickly. Apply the hemp seed oil first and allow to soak in for 24 hours. Next, apply the unscented Big Mama’s Butta liberally. The color was fantastic!, they looked like their beautiful previous version from 70 years ago. Cure the chairs for 2 weeks before applying a clear coat on the top. The oil needs to be good and absorbed into the wood prior to sealing. Next, the finish or top coat needs to be applied. Another product that works especially well for a durable and water proof top coat is Dixie Belle’s , “Gator hide”.
Final finish on refurbished chairs
Gator Hide looks milky in the container, but when it dries it is crystal clear. The directions state that 3 coats will give it water proof qualities. Spraying it with a mini hand held unit, the Home Right power sprayer is my go to method of finishing a piece. It gives it that professional quality, no brush stroke finish. If there is an option to spray outside, that is always a good one. For respiratory safety use a protective respirator.
the damaged chairs have been refurbished!
The chairs had 3 coats of Gator Hide sprayed onto them giving them a smooth satin protective finish. There was also a set of wooden buttons that had been replaced on the screw holes to hide the deep set screws. Simply glued in place with some wood glue. These little buttons went through the same prep process with the oils as the chairs did to match the color. The seats needed to be reupholstered, I will save that blog post for another day. The new material was simply stretched over the current seat and stapled into place on the bottom. Very much like stretching a paint canvas onto a wooden frame.
I really hope this post helps you when refurbishing any damaged mid century modern chairs you may have. Hopefully, these will find a nice home and bring another 70 plus years of use into some one else’s life. One thing that I have found in older furniture is, they don’t make it like that anymore. Thanks for taking the time to be part of this artistic creation for Fun-ctionality in life with me today!
