Monday, February 20, 2012

Imperfection: In RED





This gorgeous little chair cried out to me in a piled up thrift store a long time ago.  I don't have a before picture, but it was a sad sad little chair.  The fabric on the cushion would have been best suited for indoor/outdoor carpeting and the finish on the wood had long since seen better days.  Possibly the most traumatic though, was the missing leg support.  I did not even notice the giant flaw until I was giving it its initial scrub down and it really stumped me at first.




What came out of this project was an even greeater appreciation for imperfections.  This chair stares its flaws in the face.  It wears red to the prom even though it has love handles.  It rubs tanning oil all over its pregnant belly on the beach.  I think embracing flaws is the epitome of living for the day and I think this chair is one of my best items yet.







Just a quick run down of the project.  First I sanded the whole thing smooth and filled in holes with putty.  Then I primed it with zissner spray oil base primer.  The whole thing got two coats of the REDDEST red in my paint cabinet (yes at one point it was my living room and I loved it).  I finished it with two coats of rub on poly for durability.  I wanted to keep it monochromatic so I used a dark red brocade to cover the seat.


And now the best part! What to do with the missing leg support (how do those get knocked out anyway???).  I considered trying to replace it with something that would match and blend in, but I hate trying to make things blend.  It either matches or it does not, there is no in between.  So I was tinkering around in my workshop and I found a ball of jute twine.  Such a great raw material.  I love the way it looks with the red an brocade, it is such a clash of colors and textures.  What do you think?



This chair is the very first listing on my etsy store! http://www.etsy.com/shop/MansionHouseRoad