What to do with these chairs?

by None

+16

Answered

We bought a new dining set and used our old one outside after treating it with spar varnish. So along comes another dining room table and chairs (freebie) that we don't need or have room for but I took them anyway. 6 of the 8 chairs are broken. I'm guessing these are from the 60's before people starting getting thicker. I found a photo of a set with similar legs to show you. The legs themselves were made in pieces with dowel type ends putting them together. The legs themselves set in on an angle. They just seem really unsturdy! We are debating about making benches for the table on both side. The 2 good chairs are the ones with arms for the head of the table. I wondered about maybe using the back and seat of the chairs on the bench but mounting them on swivel seat hardware. Either that or making new bottoms (legs area) of a more sturdy sort. I'd give the set to family or a friend after it's been made safe :) Opinions, ideas etc. Hubs glued one chair after sanding and cleaning the pieces but he says they are just not made to sit in.

q raining broken chairs , repurpose furniture, repurposing upcycling

9 answers

Wendy on Sep 10, 2016
....before people started getting thicker ?!

Helpful Reply
- None on Sep 10, 2016
  Lol, sorry. Here in the states it's a polite way of saying too many take aways and buffets so people are getting larger. On the other hand, that said, maybe we are getting "thicker" too :)
  
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Janet Pizaro on Sep 10, 2016
see if this will give you some ideas. www.hometalk.com/diy/repurposed-broken-chairs-892501...

Repurposed Broken Chairs

Helpful Reply
- None on Sep 10, 2016
  Very nice ideas but I want to use these as chairs. I just need ideas to replace the bottoms.
  
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Susan Bechamp on Sep 10, 2016
1). Turn them into planters with a colorful paint job, and cut a hole in the seat to hold a container of flowers. Place on the porch or in the garden. 2). Remove the legs. Paint each a different color. Hinge to a wooden box.

Helpful Reply
- None on Sep 10, 2016
  Good ideas and I may do that with a single chair I have. I am looking to use these chairs for a dining set though. It's too nice to not use just had badly designed chair legs! The set is beautiful otherwise.
  
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William on Sep 10, 2016
This shows how to make a simple chair, but the leg concept can be used for yours.***** http://www.ana-white.com/2011/01/classic-chai...,***** http://addicted2diy.com/2013/11/08/diy-uphols...

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- None on Sep 10, 2016
  Thank you William! The 2nd link seems like a great plan! We would only need the bottom part and then attach that to the seats. I'm still curious about a bench so maybe hubs will build one and we can just set a chair back on it to see. Turns out we have one swivel piece off an old kitchen chair so we can just envision before trying it.
  
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- William on Sep 10, 2016
  Glad I could help. Please post what you do. Would help out a lot of Hometalkers!
  
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Sandra Allen on Sep 10, 2016
What is raining a chair mean?

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- See 1 previous
- None on Sep 10, 2016
  We had a dining set with 6 chairs that we converted to an outside patio set after we bought a new set with china cabinet that has 8 chairs. That made 14. Then I was given a really nice dining set that had 8 chairs but 6 were broken and hubs said they just weren't going to fix up with glue. I have several odd wooden chairs I have bought over the years just because I liked them. A few are windsor type. Way too many chairs. When it rains it pours? Lol. We are buying the wood tomorrow for a bench and also a chair bottom and will see which works better. My cousin is interested so he will have input too. The table is gorgeous! The chairs were once but just not well made.
  
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- Sandra Allen on Sep 11, 2016
  Okay...I thought it was a way to fix a chair!
  
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Tena Abbey on Sep 10, 2016
Instead of raining cats and dogs (i.e., dumping water from the heavens), it rained chairs on her. In other words, she has suddenly acquired a multitude of broken chairs and is trying to figure out what to do with them now.

Helpful Reply
Elisa Spremo on Sep 11, 2016
My chairs were "broken" in the legs ,like yours . I used Gorilla brand Wood Glue in the legs and snapped them back together. I let dry over night after I laid them on their side and put something heavy on them. It seems to be holding up pretty well. My mom did this also but she ended up nailing them and adding support wires on the legs too.

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- None on Sep 11, 2016
  Thank You Elisa Spremo. We also used Gorilla glue on the first chair. Hubby cleaned each side that had to be glued and sanded making sure no old glue was left. He used lots of clamps and let the chair set for a full 24 hours. Just didn't work well enough. Each piece of the leg was made of mulitple sections so where every piece tapered there was a new joint. Weird.
  
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- Elisa Spremo on Sep 13, 2016
  Too bad. I did not use the regular , messy Gorilla glue. I used the wood glue and it worked great for my chairs, which are also tapered at the end. Oh well, such a same. My mom would put small wood screws and wire to support our kitchen wooden chairs. That worked too. Good luck!
  
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Wendy on Sep 11, 2016
If you don't actually need them put them on ebay - they are a very popular style.

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- None on Sep 11, 2016
  My cousin said he wants them. They don't have a dining set just a kitchen table.
  
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Michele Lagoutte on Sep 18, 2016
You may go to Pinterest.com and enter surch "chair repurpose" then you'll find a lot of ideas

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