Good Questions: Identifying Thrift Store Chairs?

Apartment Therapy DC reader Jane needs help identifying her newest thrift-store find: "Recently I came across a couple of interesting plastic chairs in an antique store for only a few dollars. I thought they may look a little too close to school chairs but I went against my better judgment and bought them. They were incredibly filthy, but after a little scrubbing here and there, they are actually quite nice - aside from the wear on their legs. I was wondering, are these chairs worth salvaging, and if so, how can I restore the legs?"

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Jane, We love the color and style of your new chairs, and are hoping some of our readers can help with questions of cleaning and restoration. Does anyone have advice for Jane on restoring these chairs?

(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first.
Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to:
dc(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com)

Comments (16)

I bought one at an estate sale this past weekend and use it at my dining room table. I love it! I am going to try and use polish on the legs, because they are rusty. The color I found was great, so I don't want to paint it, but think that could be an option too. I also thought about a slipcover, but not sure how that would work....

I have similar chairs I salvaged while volunteering. I recently redid the legs. I decided to just use one of the chairs for now as they don't necessarily match.

Check out my post here:
http://ayoska.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/chair-makeover/

Thanks for the suggestions, so far :)

I went ahead and cleaned the legs as best as I could and spray painted them a glossy black. As far as the seats go, I was thinking of probably spray painting them in a clear high glass to make a nice sheen and make them a bit more durable since it's plastic and not fiberglass (as I would have wanted).

I think I was trying to find round seat cushions for them but have yet to find any that are pleasing to look at and comfortable.

Best,
Jane

These are fun and great looking chairs..for the few bucks!!!! love ayosliving's redo!!

I have one of these form a thrift store. Mine is rusty and missing the plastic feet. The seat is peeling from a bad spray paint job. Yours look good. I think I will try painting the legs black too...

i've seen a few of these around on porches and in thrift stores and such, but i don't know what they are. they're not worth much, so i wouldn't recommend spending much on restoring them unless you're particularly taken with them. cleaning and spray painting the legs is probably the best option for the money.

AyosLiving - your chair redo is very pretty, I can't wait to see the final product!

Snailsalot - good luck! I like the way they turned out with the black, it gave it a bit of oomph for sure -- I'll post them sometime in my flickr account if you care to see!

Liam - I figured they weren't worth anything and didn't really care about their history, but being only a couple of dollars and hopefully transforming them to something exciting is why I think I purchased them in the first place... Who knows, I may end up with covet-worthy chairs when I'm through :)

By the way, I'm hoping to use these as dining chairs so I hope they turn out to be decent.

I bought the same chair at an estate sale last year and it's actually pretty comfortable to sit in. I cleaned it up, but haven't done anything else to it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindseyf/2525023880/in/photostream/

lindseyf - the legs on your chair look much nicer, I for one, am jealous!

I wish I could find some nice wooden dowels to replace the legs...

The seats might be cool painted with some of those trendy stencils, flying bird silhouettes, etc. Or decals if you don't want to go permanent...

Which antique store are you going to in DC?

I believe it is a very rare Arne Jacobsen design that was in production for a short time by Fritz Hansen. I will do some digging in my archives and post again. Either way, they are really wonderful. Congratulations!

snailsalot, maybe you can clean off the peeling paint (steel wool?) and try agian with Krylon paint for plastic.

JG - my boyfriend and I were tossing the idea of leaving the front parts plain and having decals on the back side of the chairs so that when they're pushed in they can see the flair...business up front, party in the back! haha

Victoria in DC - I actually live in Pittsburgh, I frequent a bunch of different places in hopes of some cool finds, I wish I lived in some ultra cool areas where the design atmosphere is pretty prevalent, but I have to make use of what I have! I sent my question in to the DC section of AT because it was the closest in proximity.

supernormalist - you think that the little plastic chairs are an Arne Jacobsen design? That would be fantastic, but they don't seem to be anything in particular..maybe I'll double check them for any labels. I don't have very high hopes that they're anything special, but that would be marvelous!

Once again, thanks for the tips everyone! I really appreciate the help -- I'm sure they're going to look spectacular!

Totally worth salvaging this are modern classics. I only wish I could find them especially or a few dollars.