Monday, May 25, 2009

Another chair

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?

12 comments:

  1. 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.

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  2. ... the new cover is sooo much better! Love it.

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  3. Ooohhh, 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.

    And your visual description of reading with some iced tea...priceless.

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  4. Shirley9:19 AM

    Terrie, I like the vintage, polished wood as is...perhaps a finish to protect it. I wouldn't cover that glorious patina.

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  5. I'd like the finish on the wood myself. Or the green. No help at all here.
    I loved your entry yesterday about your daughter. So sweet-how lucky you both are.

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  6. 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).

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  7. I'd go for bright white..maybe the green..
    Love the new cover...

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  8. 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!

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  9. What about picking up one of the colors in the beautiful new canvas? Great find!

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  10. Wow, 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 :-)
    Great job on the cushion.

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  11. Cool chair! Looks very comfy. :) And the arms are wide enough to set a drink on. Good find!

    I 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.

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  12. I would not paint teak wood. There are finishes made especially for this durable wood.
    You may want to make a new cushion cover in the future and the wood will go with anything you do.

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