Family Heirloom Chair Make Over

Before Front prior to removing paint

Before back legs prior to removing paint

Before- Back Top before removing paint

I finally got the paint off. I sanded this thing for hours both by hand and with a power sander. The black on the right is original stain that apparently REALLY absorbed into the wood because it's not budging.

I took'er outside to begin adding decorative elements.

Side view Before

Back view before

No matter how much sanding I did in the little crevices I was never able to completely remove the blue so I decided to go with it and add some blue highlights in strategic areas

I applied ArtMinds Bahama Blue Pickling to a clean rag and lightly rubbed it onto the seat. As with the old black stain the wood took to it more in some areas then others.

I measured the length of the area I wanted to paint then used Word to type out the name in the font I and spacing I liked. Used references of the Swiss and Austrian flag to make sure I was spacing the colored areas of the flags appropriately. I laid it out how I wanted then printed it out then taped a piece of carbon paper to the back of the print out. Then I taped the whole thing to the back of the chair and used a pencil to trace over everything which transferred the art work onto the wood.

I hand painted the letters and flags being sure to use masking tape around the flag edges.

The lettering and flags are completely painted and the Tape is all removed. I put several coats of spray poly over the paint before adding any with a brush. I've experienced paint smear in the past when applying poly over new paint by brush. I put way too many hours to risk that!

According to Collectors Weekly: "S Bent & Brothers, a furniture company established in 1867. They closed in 2000. At one time Gardner, Mass., was known as the “Chair Capitol of the World.” Other well-known furniture companies located there were Conant-Ball, Heywood-Wakefield and Baumritter, the company that became Ethan Allen.S. Bent and Brothers was known for producing well-made, high-quality furniture. They specialized in the style known as “Colonial Revival.” The two most common primary woods are maple and ash stained to look like oak. S Bent & Brothers were known for their well-made chairs, especially the Windsor type. They also produced dining room tables and other types of household furnishings. From the number of chairs I found in auction results, S Bent and Brothers must have made a great many Alumni chairs for a wide range of colleges and universities. http://www.bradenton.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/article34063716.html "

** I spent a few days attempting to locate even one exact replica of this chair but couldn't. I found a few close but none were exact. I used a very fine grit sand paper on this to keep as much integrity of the stamp as possible all while trying to actually see it.

The completed back

I put the chair on the table for the picture so disregard whatever that stain stuff is, that's for Jeff's project.

The completed front

When Jeff's Mom saw the pictures she was so thrilled but when she came down to visit she was over the moon.

Jeff is very impressed too- that means more because he's a trained artist and while he never brutally honest he will tell me the truth. I consider it a score! I learned a lot and am very proud of my first refinishing project. If I can do it so can you!