Perhaps in anticipation of writing this post, I had a dream last night about the particular branch of Savers where I found this chair. In my experience Savers is really more about clothing than furniture; the furniture section is pretty small and I usually don’t have a lot of luck. However, this particular branch seems to always have one extraordinary find lurking amid the beige-overstuffed-couches and 1990s-Jordans-bureaus.
In my dream, Sage and Brad waited in the car while I went in. At the back of the store I found a pair of beautifully decrepit leather and wood armchairs, similar to the ones that Emily Henderson has in her living room. I couldn’t tell if they were terrible or amazing, so I stood agonizing over whether I could risk going to get Sage to take a look, or whether someone would snap them up while I was doing that and I would lose the find of a lifetime.
I guess if that’s what my subconsious is worrying about, things can’t be all that bad.
Unfortunately, I didn’t actually find Emily Henderson’s living room at Savers. But on my last visit, with a reluctant Brad in tow, I did find this cool metal chair for the sweet price of $2.99.
I obviously bought it immediately, despite Brad being utterly unimpressed. I liked the shape and, although we don’t yet have our dining room table-and-chair situation figured out, I thought this would be a cool spare chair to have hanging around. I am trying to bring in a few shiny chrome-like elements into each room and this seemed like an easy way to do so.
The chair was in good shape, but it did have a spattering of rust spots on the metal, and I wasn’t a fan of the brown pleather seat.
I looked at a ton of fabric options to recover the seat, including this imitation cowhide which is either really awesome or totally ugly. But eventually I decided to do something simple so the chair would fit into any decor going forward, and went with an affordable mix of recycled polyester and organic cotton in black.
No one needs a tutorial for reupholstering a simple seat cushion from me, and if you do, you can get it from my bench makeover project last month. Suffice it to say that it was very easy. I just went on top of the existing cushion since it was in fine shape, and added two layers of new batting to make it a little more comfortable.
The finish on the metal was pretty easy to mess up, and even picked up streaks when I tried to clean away the rust with the rough green side of those yellow-and-green sponges. Instead, I used a microfiber towel
Some of the rust came off by just rubbing with the cloth and water. For the trickier spots, I made a paste of baking soda and water, coated the rust, and then scrubbed hard with the cloth. The results weren’t perfect, but it did a pretty good job.
A wipe down with the dry cloth also gave it a pretty good shine.
I then reattached the seat. The extra layers of batting and cloth meant that the four little screws didn’t quite reach any more. Fortunately, I found three equivalent but slightly longer ones in my basement hardware hoard, so I didn’t need to go out to the store to finish the project. DIY score!
Yes, I did arrange, shoot, edit, name, upload, and add this very exciting photo just for you to see. You’re welcome.
Maybe I will remember to pick up a fourth screw to finish the job properly next time I am at the hardware store. Or maybe I will completely forget about it since the seat seems plenty sturdy and it doesn’t seem like a problem. (Guess which one is more likely.)
The result is a cool but unobtrusive side chair that can hang out in our dining room as a seat for extra guests.
I like the shape, and the contrast between the shine of the metal and the black seat. It wasn’t particularly comfortable when we brought it home, but the extra layers of batting definitely make it better.
It’s not bad for $15 plus a lot of leftover black cotton fabric! I’ll definitely be returning to that Savers. Maybe next time I really will find Emily Henderson’s living room in there!
(Sharing at Think and Make Thursdays, Tip Me Tuesday, Thrifty and Vintage Finds Link Party, and Your Turn to Shine Link Party)
I’m really hurt that you would dream that I waited in the car. It’s like you don’t even know me.
I thought it was pretty insulting, myself, that I had to go in alone. I needed you!
What a difference a little fabric makes! Good job girls. It takes it to another level alltogether! visiting from Think and Make Thursday!
IMO, swapping out brown pleather is almost always an upgrade 😉 Thanks so much!
Nice job! I like how quietly futuristic the chair turned out, but I vaguely remembered a quick-fix hack for polishing chrome, so did a quick search on the internet:
A simple and inexpensive way to remove rust from and polish chrome surfaces by hand is to rub it with aluminum foil dipped in water. This process yields two advantages. First, since the aluminum foil is softer than steel, it will not scratch the surface. And second, a by product of the process produces a fine metal polishing compound that smoothes the chrome surface to a bright shine.
If the chair gets a little spotty in future, try it! I almost wish I had some spotted chrome to test this out on. 😉
Thanks, Telzey! I will totally try that at the next opportunity. The baking soda/cloth method worked but took a while.
I feel incredibly judgemental for hating the chair up until the photo of it next to the console table. That chair is pretty darn amazing. Nice eye!
Thanks, Corinna! It totally helped to see it in context… i.e., the only bright spot in a sea of beige couches and clear glass florist vases.