Happy Easter!

It's still a great idea!

Last fall I had a great idea...I wanted a "farmhouse"-style table for myself, surrounded by eight different pressed-back chairs--all painted white.

(You can read more about it here and here.)

It was a great idea...but the execution turned out to be...flawed (see the above links for the rest of the story!). As a result, I sold the table to one woman, six of the chairs to another, and two of the chairs were returned to the friend I originally purchased them from (but fixed and painted).

My friend, however, decided to take the idea and run with it.

Since last fall, she has been on the hunt for her own set of pressed-back chairs...she wanted a total of ten! She is near to completing her set...and I am finishing them for her.

I showed you a sneak peak of one of her chairs here. Here is the before, in case you don't remember!


Here are three more chairs that I found for her:


Look familiar? They are the same style as the chairs for the Gathering Table set I also finished last fall! But these ones were a real bargain. Remember the $10 table I shared? These were actually part of the deal! (It was rough, really...)


I finished six of the chairs this last week! There are two more to go, but they require a bit more structural work than I have had time for yet.


This is the chair I replaced the seat on...

There are actually four chairs of this style, although one has arms.

And this is actually my favorite chair, although I don't have a "before" shot. Isn't it gorgeous?

All the chairs have been lightly sanded and primed, then painted with Sherwin Williams "Creamy," distressed, and glazed with watered-down Burnt Umber acrylic paint.

Eight down...two more to go!

Replacing a cane seat -- my way!

There are a lot of great tutorials on how to replace a cane seat.

This is not one of them.

But it does show that you don't need special tools to do the job!

Just look through your kitchen drawers!

I haven't always been brave enough to try re-caning. When I found this bench, for example, I chose to cut a new wood seat and ignore the broken cane (and I think that was a great choice for that project).

However, I did replace a cane seat for this set of chairs, so I was ready to tackle another one!

This is what I came home with:

In my opinion, removing the old cane is the most difficult part. Some come out easy, some don't--this one was a "don't." A utility knife and a flat-head screw driver can be helpful in clearing the debris out of the channel, followed by a nice roll of sandpaper. You want to get it as clean as possible for the new cane and spline.

Then the instructions tell you to soak the cane and the spline--don't skimp on this! That's what makes it pliable enough to work with. Give it a good hour; you'll be happier that way.

Then you have to push the cane into the groove. Do you need any special wedges or rollers?

Nah.

What you need is something dull, narrow, and with no sharp edges! So dig out your plastic spatulas, dough scrapers, and cookie turners!

Be creative! When you need to go around those corners, you're going to need something short...so turn your spatulas over!

It looks goofy. But it works!

Once you have your cane tucked in nice and snug in the groove, you can just use a utility knife to cut off the excess cane just below the edge of the groove. Make sure you have a nice, sharp blade. A dull blade can pull on the spline, and "untuck" it. You can use something like a putty knife--or a nice metal dough scraper if you're still working out of your kitchen drawers--to provide a nice straight edge to cut against. Hold the putty knife in one hand with the edge just below the edge of the groove, and run the utility knife along the edge.

You should soak your spline at the same time as your cane (did I forget to mention that before? sorry). So now that the excess cane has been cut, you're ready to squirt a bead of glue (I use a good-quality wood glue) into the groove right on top of the cane. Insert your spline into the groove, running it all the way around without worrying about pounding it in the first time. It's easy enough to cut with a utility knife when you get to the end. Then, use a hammer to gently tap it into place.

Yes, they sell special tools for pounding in spline. I haven't used any of those, either!

It may not be a professional job--but I don't charge a professional's fee, either!

Here's how the chair looks after some paint, distressing, and glaze:


I snapped this picture just before this chair went out the door this afternoon. It was one of six pressed-back chairs that I refinished this week! (See here for those other chairs!)

(Edited to add: Rhonda at Yellow Brick Road posted how she re-caned her chairs here.)

Note: I order my chair cane and spline from Rockler. The supplies are not very expensive, but shipping is! But Rocker often gives a "free shipping" code, so I always do an Internet search for one, and save my orders until one is available if I can.

For the love of tables...

I have many weaknesses...one of which is for the look of a dark-stained table top paired with a creamy distressed base! I just can't get enough of it.

I saw this table on KSL.com several weeks ago. The price? $10. I usually think about an ad for a day or so before I call on it--not this time. I made an appointment to go get it, but actually had to go back twice because the seller slept through his doorbell! It is a 4-foot round table, plus an 18" leaf.

The table was old--truly old, not just a reproduction. I didn't care.
A dog had chewed on the feet. I didn't care.
One side of the table wanted to lift completely off the base. I didn't care.

Did I mention it was $10?

Later I found out why it was $10...but I still didn't care (much).

In addition to needing screws to re-attach the top to the base, I also had to use my Dremel to sand down the apron so the table top could meet without a 1/2" gap. Yep, the apron was wider than the table top. Not sure how they managed that. Then I think the leaf was added at a later date, and whoever put it in didn't think the leaf should ever come out. I had to have a friend (a braver friend than I) cut a chunk of wood off of one of the sliders underneath so it could close all the way back down. It was an adventure!

But in the end...

I stained the top with a layer of Antique Walnut and a layer of English Chestnut stains this time. I love the combination. The bottom is painted "Creamy" by Sherwin Williams, and I used the English Chestnut stain for the glaze.

I don't have "before" pictures of my chairs. I was too busy getting this set ready for the Spring Market! I had two of this style of chairs; they are surprisingly comfortable! I paid $5 for both of them at DI!

And then two of this style of chairs ($5 each from a good friend), which I got the day before the Market. I finished them up with a coat of Minwax Polycrylic literally an hour before I got in the car to go!


I don't have a really good beauty shot, I'm afraid. Just too much "rushing" to get pictures at all before the Market opened!

So please ignore the finishing wax on top of the table!