A progression

[brenda]

@horace It's quite enjoyable work, more than I expected, not that I want to make a second job of this. Parts of it can be hard on the hands.

It's good to enjoy it, because I have 12 dining room chairs that are going to get leather seats, an antique platform rocker that needs to be redone, and a vintage chaise lounge that has needed to be reupholstered for about 35 years. It was left in the first house we bought, as was the victrola.

Furniture sometimes finds an owner, instead of the other way around.

[brenda]

Hubby is getting more ideas, too. He's been looking at plans to build chairs for the library. He wants some cigar chairs or something like that. No wonder he got me tools.

[Jolly]

Nice work!

Possible side business?

[brenda]

@jolly Thanks! I doubt my hands could handle this as even a very small business, and I'm not that good at it. Lots of mistakes that I can see.

Plus, I already have a job. I don't have time for another part-time gig.

[Jolly]

@brenda said in A progression:

@jolly Thanks! I doubt my hands could handle this as even a very small business, and I'm not that good at it. Lots of mistakes that I can see.

Plus, I already have a job. I don't have time for another part-time gig.

Gotta retire sometime....

[taiwan_girl]

@brenda 🥰

[mark]

Excellent work, Brenda! Love the before and after of the rocker.

[brenda]

@jolly said in A progression:

@brenda said in A progression:

@jolly Thanks! I doubt my hands could handle this as even a very small business, and I'm not that good at it. Lots of mistakes that I can see.

Plus, I already have a job. I don't have time for another part-time gig.

Gotta retire sometime....

Well, if I do, I will tell everyone here to buy stock in Pfizer.
They make Advil. LOL

[brenda]

@taiwan_girl said in A progression:

@brenda 🥰

Awwwww ... thanks!

[brenda]

@mark said in A progression:

Excellent work, Brenda! Love the before and after of the rocker.

Thanks, Mark! I find the before and after so amusing. The chair started out so darn ugly, like a face only a mother could love, or an ugly duckling. It really begged the question of why I had hung on to this ugly thing for almost 35 years, dragging it all around the country with every move we made. It was just ridiculous that I had done that, so I guess I felt I had to justify all that nonsense.

It was meant to just be a learning experience, because I have a LOT to learn, but then I got bold. I decided to really try to make it look decent. Lo and behold ... now I really like it! Hubby was shocked as well. LOLOL

It was a good thing he liked it, because I spent too much on this thing. For example, I used horsehair stuffing! That stuff is not cheap, and people pay extra to have that used in a furniture restoration project, but it's supposed to be really good quality, and it's historically appropriate for the age of the chair. Although it takes a bit of extra work, it's absolutely true that it makes a comfy seat, as hubby attests.

I even got leather for the final seat cover. What was I thinking?! That was a total risk for a n00b to do! But I had this image in my head of how it should look based on a photo from t3h interwebs. It even showed the funky nailhead trim design with the two-nail upward return at each corner of the seat base. I fell in love with that, and I knew I had to try. Thank goodness for YouTube. I found a video of how to do the leather seat, and watched it about 8 times. Voila! Done!

It looks like a darn miracle to me, not perfect at all, but still a miracle that it turned out at all. I'm just so surprised by the whole thing. It makes me smile every day. I put it across the room from where I work, so I can look at those adorable trim nails that are completely responsible for this whole ridiculous thing. The bottom edge of the seat frame is curved upward on each side, so those nails look like they're smiling right back at me.