I have a really nifty old wooden chair that I would like to spruce up. Does anyone have any good ideas?

Question

This chair is solid oak, 24 in. high to arms 30 to back, 24 in wide and 21 deep. I rescued it from a dumpster (had a cracked leg which I wood glued and has been fine). It's a really neat old thing and i was wondering if any creative creature out there had any spiffy ideas that someone with not too much artistic capacity could handle. Thanks

Answer 1

I don't know if the chair would have any sort of monetary value having been repaired, esp if it wasn't professionally restored (no insult to your work, mind you). You can always check, and consider selling it as is. This is if you don't truly love it, you just want to make use of it now that you have acquired it.

This odd chair likely doesn't go with anything in your house as in wood tones, design, an existing chair set, or any other furniture for that matter. You can try to get hold of more mismatched chairs and make an eclectic mix around one table. Like other misfits and orphans find each other, so will these chairs, and they will become a unified collection.

Otherwise, you can do anything else with it. As for it's purpose, I would use it as a single small focal point.

You can place it by the door and use as a coat tree, have a basket on the seat for out-the-door items, and shoes underneath on a carpet square or plastic mat. If you found more chairs, personalized them and arrange in a row along the mudroom wall, then you have a place for everyone's own out-the-door gear. Put a mail sorter, a series of hooks above, and hang a mirror on the back of the closest door, and you have what is sometimes called a launchpad...this is the home for everyone's in and out box so to speak and makes getting ready to leave the house a real easy one-stop affair. Not to mention that it is after all, a chair...which is handy to sit on when you are waiting for others to get ready, or when you take shoes off or put them on. Unified by a carpet runner, this is an excellent way to find places for odd items and get a bit of organization in as well.

You can also use it as a desk chair, a time out chair, an occasional chair in a living room arrangement, or put in the corner of the kitchen for family chats with the cook, doubling as a footstool. You could use it as single seating in anyone's bedroom.

For non-seat options, there are a few ideas too.

You can use it as a plant stand, stack books on it, place it on an angle between two easy chairs and use as a lamp table. You can install a crystal drawer pull on the top of the seat (about 3 inches from the edge, in the middle, or use 2 and center them), forming a catch/lip for use as an easel that would secure a framed piece of art, or a dry erase board.

You could try to attach an arched piece of wood on each set of legs and make a rocker? Then it would go good in a baby's room.

You could try hanging it on the wall as a piece of art in itself, or wire it as a sconce, or attach candle holders to it as a candelabra.

OK design ideas:

If it is simple without a lot of curvy pieces and spindle lathe work, you can decoupage it...glue sheet music or magazine clippings, or old book illustrations, wallpaper, whatever...to it in a patchwork style. It would be one of a kind. Finish off with a couple coats of polyurethane if it will get a lot of use.

You could paint it in a single color or mix and match any colors on any parts of the chair. Don't forget there are different paint treatments. Faux surfaces, sponge techniques, glazes and washes, pickling, antiquing. You can experiment with different glosses, from flat to lacquer, semigloss, etc. Mixing these in the same tone somehow would be very neat.

Depending on the quality of the item you might want to restore this piece to its former glory with a stain. This may mean you make it match into your other furniture, or you can stain in an accent, or to match the wood type, and let it stand out as a feature piece.

Answer 2

Do like I do when I want to be creative. Sit and look at it, for One minute. Then close your eyes and wonder about it in different shapes, colors, tricked out for fast travel, or shaded like a tree.

Try to think of six different ways it could look and then try not to think about the chair until the next day.

Answer 3

Before doing anything, take it to a reputable Antique Dealer and see if it has any collector ($$$) value.