1940's Metal Toddler Booster Stool Rehab

by Kaye

4 Materials

$50

4 Days

Medium

Hi, I was looking for an end table at my favorite antique/junk shop. I didn't find the right table (doesn't this always happen) but found a great retro child's seat to rehab. The shop owner thought I was loco to even try it, so she told me to take it for $5.00.

I am always game to take on a $5.00 find. Especially if I can do some research on the history. I believe this piece dates from the late 1940's. While I couldn't find one exactly like my chair, I found one very similar the owner was able to date.

1940 s metal toddler booster stool rehab

How can you pass this up? The first thing I did was to strip as many layers off as possible with paint remover. Next came quite a bit of time stripping off paint with a window razor holder. Luckily the razor blade holders are relatively cheap as mine is now toast.

As I was stripping the paint, I discovered some awesome details. The back had a hand painted set of plates, a cup and a teapot. The legs and seat rim had hand painted red stripes. I tried to think of ways to restore rather than cover them up again, but as my hand painting ability is limited, it didn't happen.

The next major issue was rust. Spots of rust were all over as well as deep in the groove where the back met the seat. I found good old vinegar to be the best solution. Notice above how the rust was pulled to the edge of the paper towel.

I soaked paper towels in vinegar and let them sit overnight. The rust turned black and was fairly easy to scrape off. Interesting, the vinegar removed quite a bit of the paint as well. I want to try applying vinegar on my next project before using stripper and/or sanding.

I purchased Rust-o-leum primer specficially formulated to encapsulate rust and liberally coated the entire piece.

I chose Rust-o-leum Ivory Enamel paint to match the original color as closely as possible. It gave the finished piece a nice depth of color.

After purchasing new ends for the legs and painting those, it was complete. The Winnie the Pooh laminates were a memory to the new owners. When they were pregnant with their four daughters, each child was named a Pooh character.