Chippendale Chair Redo - Update

You guys remember that DIY project I was working on earlier this spring of redoing some Chinnoisserie chairs I found on the side of the road? Well, I’m back from my radio silence on this project, and some progress to share from the weekend. Although I can’t really take credit for the updates. 

If you're new to Decor-Eat, first of all welcome! For some background, here is where the chairs started - black with chipped paint, no seats and in desperate need of a cleaning and redo!

The end-goal is some variation of these chairs except for our balcony.

Those of you who have tried a DIY project know how hard it can be to find the time for crafting – add in a project that require wood cutting and it gets even more difficult for those of us in apartments. Being in Atlanta, I’m lucky to have my parents nearby with a backyard and most importantly a garage that they begrudgingly let me store my in-progress projects in. So these lovely chippendale chairs have been living stacked up in front of my Dad’s parking spot in the garage, and this weekend I reaped the benefits. I went over to my parent’s house to find my Dad in the garage, in front of the wood bench with the wood cutter in hand. 

First things first, we measured the chair in the back and front of where we wanted the seat to go. This ended up being 16" 3/4 in the back and 17" in the front.

And then we measured this out on the plywood. To make sure we got the angle right we checked the halfway point of each measure and made sure they were equidistant from each side line. A 90 degree angled ruler was helpful to make sure we drew a straight line.

We then used an electric circular saw, and by we I mean my Dad, not sure I'm ready to mess with that one. Evidently they can have a pretty strong kick back. Goggles and headphones were a must. We also used a clamp to help hold the board in place and pushed it up against some placeholders on the right side to get a precise cut.

Luckily, the board was a perfect fit for the the seat. If you notice, the corners and edges of the board are sharp in this picture, so we used an ocillating sander to help round them out.

I'm not going to lie, I got pretty excited about this tool. Wood cutting is something I will definitely work my way up to, but this sander is something I want to start using now. I hate to sand. This tool moves the sandpaper in a circle making the sanding even and SO much faster.

The before is on the left and sanded on the right.

Looks so much better, right? 

We cut the first seat and called it a day.

Sunday rolls around and I get a text from my Dad updating me that the seat has been screwed in and painted! Best Dad ever right? And I think there is a ring to that. New series? DIY with Daddo.