Free Finds and a Flub

Here’s the backstory–I’ve been looking at putting different outdoor chairs near our front door. Our teak Adirondack chairs are 20+ years old and need some serious TLC, but more than that they are chunky and hard to move. I would love to have smaller, more movable chairs in this area.

I’ve been looking at metal mesh chairs and found a perfect one. I absolutely adore this but holy smokes, it’s $1,300 and I would need two!

So okay, that’s a no to the Sculptura Chair.

But the other weekend I found a group of five metal chairs listed by a member of my local Buy Nothing FB group. They were not the look I was going for and obviously needed some serious TLC too, but I thought they had potential and they were free!

They are a type of chair commonly used in outdoor restaurants and typically run from $50-$70 each, and are darn sturdy.

But I looked at some of the steps for refurbishing them and boy it looks tedious.

Here’s the truncated list from HGTV.com:

1. Scrape With a Wire Brush. Use a wire brush to remove any loose pieces of rust.
2. Sand Off Remaining Rust. Use a palm sander to remove the rest of the rust.
3. Hand-Sand Crevices and Curves.
4. Clean With Solvent.
5. Apply Primer.
6. Spray on Paint.
7. Fix Drips.
8. Protect With Sealer.

Not only is it a lot of work, but also involves speciality products and tools. But here’s the weird thing–I rather like the chippy effect of the red showing through on some of them.

What if I just clean them up, sand them where needed and apply a sealer?

Now I know some of you will be slightly horrified by that mottled effect, while others would embrace it. While these are chairs are for our household, I can tell you there is a market for chippy, rusty, crusty stuff. Mid-century metal chairs are hot right now and folks want the original, unadulterated paint! In fact if the owner refinished the chairs shown below their value would plummet.

Anyway I’ve got five to work with (I only need two), so I may experiment! I’m just hoping the project doesn’t overwhelm me!

I flubbed up…

At a quick trip to my neighborhood thrift store I spotted these glass and silver coasters, circa 1950s-70s. I looked and looked for any kind of mark on them. I was 95% sure these had sterling silver rims. But I never found a mark in the store so I left them behind. Back home I was looking at the photo I took of them.

I blew it up a bit and bingo…there was “Sterling” and a partial maker’s mark. Drat! I hate when that happens. I would have bought them if I’d seen this. Still, I have a pair in my store already that have lingered for two years and these five did look banged up and tarnished. So maybe it was all for the best!

I try not to let me myself get upset when I mess up sourcing. There is always more stuff around the corner. Other finds!

In the dearth of fresh finds I’ve been continuing to whittle away at various piles and collections. Yesterday I focused on vintage linen postcards. I particularly like the images from the 1930s to 1950s.

Today it’s time to list some purses and maybe some clothes. I have some fun vintage clothes, but struggle taking good photos of them so they stay in storage unlisted! Time to change that.

As always, happy hunting,

Karen