Several weeks ago I stopped at an estate sale and picked up this nice, heavy wooden outdoor chair.
We've been talking about making a little sitting area out front under one of the big, old trees and when I spotted this chair it looked like it would be great for reading in the shade with a nice glass of iced tea sitting on the wide armrest. The cushion looked pretty gnarly—the picture was taken after I soaked it in the laundry tub with a good dose of bleach to kill the mildew and then baked it in the sun for several days. The result was clean and cooty-free, but dated and boring, so I picked up a couple of yards of outdoor canvas and made a cover for the cushion. Snazzy, eh?
I can't decide whether to leave the wood as is or paint it. Shiny black? Dark green? I saw some painted wood lawn chairs in the new Sunset magazine today. They looked pretty sharp.
I realize chairs are a continuing theme on this blog. Remember this—and this—and this—and this—and this—and this?
This massive teak seems to be too good to be painted over, I'd give it a spar varnish coating (weatherproof and shiny) or just oil it.
ReplyDelete... the new cover is sooo much better! Love it.
ReplyDeleteOoohhh, gorgeous! My vote is to paint the chair a dark green. I would talk to the folks at Home Depot about the paint though, as this chair may have been soaked in linseed oil (or some other such preservative). You might/probably should use some sort of primer on it before painting it.
ReplyDeleteAnd your visual description of reading with some iced tea...priceless.
Terrie, I like the vintage, polished wood as is...perhaps a finish to protect it. I wouldn't cover that glorious patina.
ReplyDeleteI'd like the finish on the wood myself. Or the green. No help at all here.
ReplyDeleteI loved your entry yesterday about your daughter. So sweet-how lucky you both are.
The new cushion looks great! The wood is nice, but I could definitely see the chair painted in the sagey color of the cushion stripes, or even the bright blue in the stripes (the red is too obvious).
ReplyDeleteI'd go for bright white..maybe the green..
ReplyDeleteLove the new cover...
My vote would be to paint it dark green. You are a veteran at painting old furniture, so know just how dark the green should be, just what kind of prep work will make it look like a pro did it. It will be totally spiffy! And I will dibs it when I come to visit!
ReplyDeleteWhat about picking up one of the colors in the beautiful new canvas? Great find!
ReplyDeleteWow, I used to have that exact same chair with the exact same cushion! When mine got icky I was not creative like you, and freecycled it. Do you suppose it could have made its way across the country to your backyard :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the cushion.
Cool chair! Looks very comfy. :) And the arms are wide enough to set a drink on. Good find!
ReplyDeleteI checked out the Sunset link you posted. Bizarrely, I had those exact two chairs painted very nearly that same bright pink color back in 1994. I have no idea what happened to them.
I would not paint teak wood. There are finishes made especially for this durable wood.
ReplyDeleteYou may want to make a new cushion cover in the future and the wood will go with anything you do.