Old Worn Fireside Chair

These chairs can be picked up for very little dollars on ebay but the luminous red of this chair that is supposed to be mahogany is awful. I like the red padded velour cushioning but the timber had to be changed. So I needed to pull it apart. Fun!! To loosen the glue I put the chair in the microwave for 15 seconds. Careful lot to loosen up too much glue holding the timber together! The glue softens and then the fabric panel came off very easliy. I hit the timber with the paint stripper and washed it off. I wasn't to fussy in getting all the stain off. Sat it in my warm oven for ten minutes to get it to dry out. We are actually having a cold winter here this year so I've taken to drying things out in my oven. I gave it a light sanding all over paying attention to rounding off the edges. I didn't want it too dark and I'm generally lazy/impatient so instead of tackling a can of wood stain I used dark tan shoe polish. Just rubbed it on with a cloth let it sit and went over it again to make sure there wasn't any excess left. I wanted the velour to be worn and rubbed back. Velour is cotton so when it is burnt it doesn't melt like polyester but singes and falls away. So I hit it with a flame on the areas that would be typically worn with age. Sometimes it does catch alight but I just blew it out. Keep moving the fabric over the flame to stop it catching alight. When it cools off just rub over it with a cloth and the blackened cotton comes away leaving the even weave underneath. For a more frayed look just keep having small goes at it till it comes away. Then just glue it all back in place.