Reupholstery Project

I've had four of these dining chairs for about 20 years, and I decided it was time to change their look. I found some upholstery fabric, watched a lot of videos on YouTube, and dove into my first reupholstery project. After removing the fabric from the first chair I knew I was right about change: the old fabric was so dark and filthy when compared to the original color. You couldn't tell so much when it was still on the chair.

I used a manual stapler to attach the new fabric to the seat, which is made of particleboard.  I have some arthritis in my hands and sometimes had to use both hands to pull the lever on the stapler. It's not easy to hold the fabric in position if you need two hands to staple! I also had to allow a day or two between stapling sessions for my hands to recover. I felt it was worth all the trouble after I got the chairs put back together.

Here's one of the finished chairs. I love the new fabric; it's called "Jungle Jam". It's like getting a whole new set of chairs.

If I do another upholstery project in the future I think I will buy a pneumatic stapler. So much easier on the hands, and faster, too.

summer fruit and polka dot pyrex

Red, white and green is one of my favorite summer color food combinations. Think tomatoes, parsley and feta. These grapes and strawberries are about to be drenched in greek yogurt: yum!

daffydils

From before Valentines Day. It seemed early, but now there are 8 or 10 daffodils blooming.

more yellow birds

American goldfinch - Spinus tristus - Bell County, Texas

It seems most of the winter visitors here are little yellow birds; finches and warblers. I've rarely seen goldfinches in their brightest colors in Texas; by the time they are turning bright gold they're ready to return to their homes in the north. I've seen 3 or 4 individuals foraging together this year.

Goldfinch & Cardinal - Bell County, Texas

The cardinals are here all year. A few days ago I saw four males and four females foraging together in the front yard, so there are at least eight individuals frequenting the feeders.

Pine Warbler

Setophaga pinus - Bell County, Texas

I've been trying for a few weeks to get a clear shot of this winter visitor, as they aren't all that common in this area. I wish the sun had been brighter as the bird is so bright it looks like someone dipped it in powdered sulfur.

noxious & toxic

"You could paint a meatball if you painted it with Zinsser first." 

quote found on painting forums, attributed to "an old painter."

Here are the utility shelves with a first coat of primer (the bottom two anyhow). The light is different because I changed the ceiling fixture. When I changed the light bulb a few weeks back I noticed some burn marks on the ceiling and discovered the wires inside the fixture were also a bit crispy. Not good! Probably someone used a high wattage bulb in the 60 watt fixture. I found a new fixture on a closeout sale at Wayfair for $1.06 and snapped it up. It uses two bulbs instead of one for more light. Yay!

The shelves are looking pretty good already. I can barely see the places I patched. I am using Zinsser B.I.N. Primer, the shellac-based product that is the subject of the quote at the top of the page.

Two reasons I chose this primer were a) it has great adhesion without having to sand the surface and b) it blocks stains and prevents wood tannin from seeping through. I'm hoping to eventually paint the stained wood and particle board cabinets and the wood paneled wall in my kitchen, and this seems to be the most appropriate product. It was either this or an oil-based product.

I'm using a 4" wide high density foam roller for the flat surfaces inside the cabinet, and a 2 1/2" synthetic bristle angle brush for the corners. The primer is so thin it's almost like painting with water, so it takes some getting used to.

Now for the "noxious & toxic" part.

B.I.N.  isn't low VOC. According to The Fun Times Guide this stuff has 550 grams per liter of volatile organic compounds compared to about 100 g/l for a low VOC Valspar primer. Because it's high VOC it stinks to high heaven. I wear gloves, goggles and a respirator whenever I open the can.

Cleanup is also noxious. You can use denatured alcohol or ammonia. Ammonia's a lot cheaper so that's what I use. I make a solution of half ammonia and half water and add a few drops of dishwashing detergent. I have used this formula with good results on both my brush and roller. After using the ammonia solution I rinse them in water.

More experiments await.

me and my Arrow

I put a coat of primer on 2/3 of the shelves in the utility room. It's too cold and humid to paint today, so I'm on another project.

It's been two years since I removed all the doors and drawers from my bathroom. I'd meant to re-paint them and re-install them with new hardware, but they've been sitting in the garage all this time. The bathroom cabinets, like the ones in my utility room, had had latex paint applied directly over oil paint, and it wasn't long before the paint started peeling off. This drawer seemed to be the worst of the bunch and was what instigated the cabinet makeover.

I thought it would be a quick job to remove that layer of latex, but it wasn't. I tried using the orbital sander, but it took off too much of the finish, down to the bare wood in places. Sanding by hand seemed way too slow and time-consuming, and I wasn't getting anywhere, so I quit.

Lately though, while removing a wallpaper border, I found my five-in-one tool did a great job of sliding under and lifting the wallpaper off the wall. Today I laid  dropcloth in the living room, brought a few drawers inside, and started scraping. In many places the layer of latex peeled off in strips; in other places it took lots of scraping. Scrape, scrape, scrape. It's a good exercise in persistence.  And me and my five-in-one tool are getting to be friends.

The most time consuming part is cleaning paint out of the routed grooves that border each piece. I am folding 80 grit sandpaper into narrow two inch lengths to slide in the grooves. It's not a big deal I guess, since these doors aren't made of particularly good wood, but I want to save some of the house's original handiwork. I think I have eight more pieces to do. If I can finish one every other day I should be done in just over two weeks.