Another month of 2017 has come and gone. This month is Black History Month. I have refinished a 1940’s vanity stool to donate a percentage of the proceeds to go to National Association of the Advancement of Colored People.
Here is a little backstory on the stool:
I found this stool in a thrift shop in South Austin. It seemed unassuming and like a quick easy project for the shortest month of the year. Undecided, I carried around the store while I continued browsing. I was quickly approached by three other women for the stool. “Are you going to buy that, honey?” Third time was the charm and swayed my decision to bring it home with me.
There was nothing quick and easy about refinishing this stool. Nothing. After removing the cushion, which was hard as a rock, I began on stripping the paint. It took 12 hours, multiple studio trips, half of quart of paint stripper, and 5 sheets of sandpaper to remove the 7 layers of paint! There were multiple shades of blue, white, black, grey, and green. After sanding it down, patching up scrapes, and using dremel tool to redefine some of the wood work on the legs, I was finally able to start painting.
I chose a royal blue paint, gold accents, and, of course, walnut stain. The royal blue I thought would be an excellent contrast to the gold and orange fabric I found for the seat cushion. Oh, and this seat cushion! Reupholstering this was no joke. I began removing the layer of fabric expecting to find the batting and cushion form underneath. I was very wrong. There was another layer of fabric underneath, I pulled back to find yet another, and another. Seven layers of fabric total, each individually nailed to the seat. I stopped counting upholstery nails after about 175 of them. I added padding to the seat and put her back together.
Here she is…. I will be making a pair of pillows with the remaining fabric. More on that next week.
made by laura lee 