I have a serious problem. I can’t bear to see a piece of furniture being thrown away. It could be the ugliest, most broken down chair and I still feel the need to save it from Mt. Trashmore. That was the case with “Daisy” this poor ugly chair that I found on the curb awaiting the trash trucks a few weeks ago. I threw her in the back of my car and brought it home.

Two missing parts

Only when I got home did I assess her condition. Moldy seat, chipping and peeling paint, structurally falling apart, cobwebs, missing parts…

GROSS! Stained and moldy seat.

…and then a dead roach dropped out! Ewwww! I must be insane.  But, I still saw potential through all the disrepair.

This chair had some serious structural issues. I knew it was a case of tear her down and rebuild. This intro kept playing in my head the during the whole process:

I pulled apart the chair (mostly with my bare hands and then with some assistance from a hammer.)

Until I was left with a skeleton of a chair.

I stripped the paint layers off the chair using the same technique as I did for this chair (see details here.) Unfortunately this chair had 5 layers of paint, therefore it took several hours and several re-applications of Citri-strip to get down to the wood.

If you remember, there were several missing parts on this chair. I had a lightbulb moment when I realized that I could used the spindles from the chair back for the missing parts to connect the legs.

I removed the back spindles.
Almost a perfect size and I had two of them!

I cut down the spindles on the miter saw (but these could easily be cut with a hand saw).

And then notched the ends so they would fit into the holes on the legs. (I did have to enlarge the holes on the legs slightly using my drill and a 3/4″ spade bit.)

Notching the spindles. Cut around the diameter, then cut from the end in towards the first cut. Repeat on all sides.

After dry fitting all the pieces back together, I used Gorilla glue to glue the chair back together.

I clamped the chair tight by using rope to wrap around the chair.

Daisy had also lost one of her decorative corner finials. So, I bought two new finials at Home Depot for $5.

In order to screw on the new finials in, I had to plug the hole with wood. (As promised: a tutorial on filling holes in wood.)

I also filled the holes where the spindles used to be with wood putty.

Next, I primed Daisy. Just a side note here, one reason the original five coats of paint on Daisy were peeling and flaking is that the proper prep work wasn’t done. No sanding to scuff up the glossy polyurethane and no primer. It is so important to sand (rough up your surface) and use a primer. If you cut corners here, you might as well kiss your beautiful finish goodbye in a few years. Especially if the chair is exposed to the elements.)

Finally, I added two coats of white paint (sanding lightly between coats.)

The chair seat was in really bad shape. Therefore I decided to cut a new one out of plywood using my jigsaw.

Trace old seat on plywood, use ruler to make straight lines, cut out seat using jigsaw.

I checked my fit and then re-upholstered my chair. Check out this post to see how to re-upholster a chair seat.

Then for the finishing touches or the frosting on the cake. You can definitely do this step! The inset carving controls your brush for you. Kind of like bowling with bumpers.

And my chair is finished. Isn’t she beautiful!

Hard to believe that 48 hours ago this chair was definitely worthy of Mt. Trashmore.

The chair is super solid now, and doesn’t move at all thanks to the Gorilla Glue.

How about one last look at the before and after pictures?

Want to see more furniture in my guest room? Take the tour here!
43 replies
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  1. VintageBeachgirl
    VintageBeachgirl says:

    That chair looks so awesome! You are right that no one would believe it was destined for the dump!! You are so clever, I love it! Thanks for sharing your creative ideas!!
    Take care, VBg

    Reply
  2. Stephanie Lynn @Under the Table and Dreaming
    Stephanie Lynn @Under the Table and Dreaming says:

    So pretty! You have brought it back to life. Amazing job! Thanks so much for linking to the DIY Club! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! ~ Stephanie Lynn

    Reply
  3. Its So Very Cheri
    Its So Very Cheri says:

    That is a GREAT project and you followed all the rules perfectly.
    Tnanks for linking up your misfit chair it turned out beautiful
    Cheri

    Reply
  4. ★All Thingz Related★
    ★All Thingz Related★ says:

    My goodness, you put alot of work into that chair! It looks fabulous! We appreciate you joining us this week for Anything Related!
    {Rebekah}

    Reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] Like this tutorial? You’ll get a kick out of how I saved this broken chair that was rescued from the trash: […]

  2. […] I showed you the transformation of a curbside chair named Daisy. She had a few holes that needed filling where I had removed the […]

  3. […] Sources: Pretty Handy Girl / Mr. Kate / Be Crafty / Roadkill Rescue […]

  4. […] or Rebuilding Daisy the Discarded Chair […]

  5. […] Chair with Flower Detail September 30, 2011 By Beckie // Brittany aka Pretty Handy Girl is unable to turn away from a piece of furniture awaiting trash pickup, no matter how decrepit. […]

  6. […] purchase. Take it apart and rebuild it from the ground up. Having done this before with Daisy the Discarded Chair, I was prepared to tear this wash stand down to the ground. But, luckily it had some better joints […]

  7. […] readers, so the truth is out, I just can’t seem to pass up discarded furniture. They look so sad and pitiful awaiting the trash trucks. They plead with me to rescue them from […]

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