Quick Project

 As usual on my Saturday shift break, I decided to go-a-thrifting. I normally don't go looking for anything in particular. Rather, I just try to look at everything and bide by time. Holy-Moley! I got lucky and came away with a big haul. I found a 1950's Zenith tabletop radio, a set of gold bar glasses and THIS beauty. As you can tell, it doesn't look pretty. I imagined that some grandmother tried to "refashinon" it to make it cool for their grandchild, and it ended up in the thrift store :(  The top cushion was covered with blue knitting and the rest was unlovingly doused in baby blue spray paint.

First things first, I cut off the web of yarn, and found a white pleather/vinyl material. It's not in the best condition. It's stained by age and/or smoke that left a yellow tinge behind. Around the buttons, it has begun to tear. All I ended up doing is scrubbing it with bleach.

Now to the nitty gritty: CHEMICALS! The Man and I went to the local hardware store and picked up an aerosol chemical paint stripper. I generally like chemical strippers because it does a lot of the elbow work for you. My only beef with this one is the way it sprayed. The nozzle only has one setting and it sprays in a stream, making it slightly more difficult to be precise. I also felt like a lot of product was wasted because of that. That being said, it helped removing the paint with minimal effort on my part. I scraped it off with a plastic noodle measurer (sorry, honey :/ ) but I would recommend an actual tool,  or an old credit/debit/I.D. card. Then attacked it all with 000 (very fine) steel wool. What didn't come off then, got a second coating of the stripper.

Under the baby blue spray paint, the legs had a thick ugly varnish. Although that would have been the original finish, I prefer to see wood grain. I think it's pretty. The brass tips needed very little TLC, I just stripped the paint and polished with the steel wool. I stained the wood legs with 2 coats of Minwax Polyshade in Olde Maple Satin.

 

I should say that I tore this thing apart. Any piece that could be unscrewed or just plain ol' pulled off like an animal was. After the brass binding was separated, I treated it just like the tips-just a polishing with steel wool. Then, I spray painted the top with one of my favorite colors: Krylon Indoor Outdoor in Satin Pistachio. I, personally, think that it compliments the brass fittings and the natural wood quite well. With the Rust-Oleum American Accents Bright Metallics in Gold, I painted the mounting plates and the "handles." They were rather tarnished.

Overall, I'm rather happy with the results. I may, eventually, do something with the cushion, but for under $25, I can't complain.

Footstool/Bench: $5.00

Paint Stripper: $9.00

Pistachio Paint: $3.75

Steel Wool: In Inventory

Gold Paint: In Inventory

Stain: In Inventory