Monday, July 1, 2013

Kona

Doesn't it seem like once in a while the garage sale gods are on your side?  I found this chair at a community sale in newer housing addition. I don't normally have very good luck at these type of sales because they are younger families and have mostly children's clothes, toys and nick knacks, but this time was different.  I got this chair for $5.  The husband said they had just marked it down from $10, so it must be my lucky day.  Now it wasn't in the best of shape, but it was structurally solid (sigh of relief from my husband), but it looked like a cat had used it for it's scratching post.  The rattan was good, but the wicker was shredded in quite a few spots, luckily not all the way through anywhere.





See what the little darling did.





So when I got it home I checked it all over and found a Pier 1 tag on it - Score!  This chair retailed for somewhere around $170 - $250.  I figured what she needed was a haircut & color, so I got out my scissors and started trimming.  All it needed was the frayed parts cut off and then on to the color.  First I tried some restore-a-finish, but it didn't absorb enough into the wicker.  Then I played around with some different stains until the color was right.  I used a cheap chip brush and just slathered on the cherry stain.  See how well it took .  
Next it was on to the cushion.  It came with a pretty good outdoor cushion, but it was too big for the chair.  I thought I could just open it up, cut back some of the foam, and sew it back together.  Nope.  It was filled with this horrible batting that just fell apart when I tried to cut it back.















So back to the drawing board.  Awhile back my sister got me a coffee sack from her son's coffee distributor.  Did I mention that Alley Cat Coffee inside of Paris Flea Market in Coeur d'Alene ID has the best coffee ever?  It does.  Anyhow, the distributor takes donations from the coffee bean sacks and sends the money to Colombian relief agencies.  I thought this one fit the personality of the chair.


So I cut 2 inches of foam to fit the seat and covered it with the top part of this sack.  I saved the bottom for another project.  Here she is all finished.  Doesn't it look like it should be on a lanai overlooking the ocean?

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