Seven Years: A Saga

Seven years. That's how long this poor chair has been languishing in my garage (in four different garages, actually, because we've lived in four different houses during those seven years -- one was a local move, but that's still a startling thought). I found it on Craigslist for $20 and thought it would be a quick fixer-upper project. It had a nasty coat of brown varnish and was in quite a state of disrepair, but it had potential. 

Oh, youthful optimism! My plans were thwarted by motherhood, procrastination, and uncertainty about how to fix it. I did manage some disassembly, but that hardly seemed like progress. The chair almost didn't make the move out West, because by then I'd really started to doubt that it would ever be a chair again. Our poor movers were concerned when they unloaded it, worried that it had suffered some catastrophe during the moving process!

But, it's obviously in chair form again. With a bit of extra time at home lately, I had no excuse to procrastinate any longer. More disassembly, a bit of sanding, lots of repairs, new screws, and some painting-and-waxing later, it's finished and finally in use. All told, I only had to buy casters and a jar each of Waverly chalk paint and cream wax (plus a few screws and a dowel to fill screw holes with). It wasn't even that difficult, it just took some time and finagling to get everything painted and assembled. 

My sewing desk is never this clean, by the way... *wink*

I don't think I've ever posted my updated sewing desk on my blog, come to think of it. It used to look like this, but two or three years ago it needed to be refinished. Cue chalk paint, distressing, and cream wax! Seriously, the Waverly and Martha Stewart waxes that are sold in jars are my favorite to apply. They look like A Big Mistake until they dry, and then after buffing they're amazing. The finish is durable, too. The desk only needed paint, wax, and new hardware, so it was an inexpensive update.

It's lovely to have a dedicated sewing chair again, but I think I'm mostly happy to just have it done. Next time I'm tempted to undertake a fixer-upper, I need less optimism or more motivation...