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I've used Peel Away too, and it works. There are other products that strip paint and are non-toxic - just ask at your local hardware store. I think you need to strip off the old paint/finish and re-do it. You should be able to DIY if you're reasonably handy. While you're at the hardware store, look at the stains for refinishing. With some blue paint and a steady hand, you should be able to achieve the two-tone look.

Circa 1850 by Swing Paints is a great product that I'd highly recommend. Strip, sand gently (steel wool final coat), stain, varnish, varnish, varnish. Best of luck! Oh and I'd recommend a nice red stain.

Yes to stripping off the old paint, with Circa 1850 or one of the citrus-based stripping products. The trick is to be patient and let the product sit long enough to penetrate and do its job, so you'll be using less "elbow grease" with the paint scraper and steel wool.

Just one caveat - depending on how the chair parts have been assembled, you may find it loosens up a bit as stripper can affect the glue in the joints as well. I found that happened when I refinished a set of antique press-back chairs. Chair Doctor glue is terrific for this, and I got mine (from Lee Valley Tools) in a kit with a syringe sort of affair that let me get the glue right into the joints. I ran out of belt-style clamps to hold all those chairs together properly while the glue was drying, so improvised with rope around the legs. It worked a treat!

To finish, if the wood is gorgeous I'd just go with a Danish oil, rubbed in very very well. if the wood turns out to be less attractive than you'd hoped, or you need to disguise tiny flecks of hopelessly-imbedded old paint, you might want to consider one of the water-based wood stains - maybe even one in a fantasy colour (MinWax shows theirs at http://www.minwax.com/products/woodstain/waterbased-color.cfm) depending on your decor and your taste...

Hope this helps. Good luck with the project!

I would 1) take it to a furniture stripper and have it dipped, 2)do all the prep sanding myself, then 3)take it to an auto body shop and ask them to paint it high gloss rust, with many coats(8, 9 12??)then upholster it with a psychedelic fabric.

I would take the chairs to a commercial stripper too - okay a commercial furniture stripper! I have had several pieces of furniture done that way and with a final sand down they look fabulous with a couple of coats of danish oil. I would definatly go that way. For the fabric I used a subtle leopard print - I know it sounds tacky but it really made some old chairs look fab!

Hi t & Tim,

What's the price range per chair if the commercial furniture stripper do the job? What's the purpose for a couple of coats of danish oil? And,how much for the refinisher paint the chairs? I'm not sure I can paint them in a professional way. Actually, for saving money, I bought these old used furniture,but now I am on a dilemma. The refinishing cost go higher and higher and I've sensed it may double the origial cost and even higher. Does anyone know the style of the chairs? Is it worth of the investment by professionals?I've never seen them on the magazines. But it's made by Century Furniture Co., and the quality seem quite nice. Anyway, I appreciate for all of your comments.

Anita

Hi,
To me this looks like a late 1960's-early 1970's chair that was made in the French provincial style. My mom has a piece like this and the speckly finish is original to the item. I suspect that the wood is pine, and I wager that strip it yourself, you are not neccesarily going to uncover any very pretty wood hiding underneath, so it may not be worth it.
If you do strip it, its very easy, dont be scared to do it yourself, it just takes elbow grease. I have stripped 1940's and 1930s items with great results, just use fine grained steel wool, then rub in tung oil or oil and vinegar for a natural finish. Its fun!
Another cheap and less time consuming option if you dont want to bother to strip is to use crackle paint, from Home Depot. You apply a layer of crackle primer, then paint another color over the primer, which 'crackles' to reveal the original colo in a cool pattern. I did this with a piece and although I was scared it would look very 1980's tacky, it actually looks great and I get lots of compliments on it. Use thicker layers of crackling to get big cracks , thinner layers for finer crackling. It works well with light paint over darker underfinish. I think matte white of off white crackled paint would look very pretty with this chair shape and help soften the heaviness of the those diagional cutouts in the chair backs.
You can probably easily change the fabric of the seat cushions yourself, if you can pull them up and staple gun or even safety pin or duct tape or use carpet nails to secure ( ha ha super DYI) new fabric to the underside of the chair.Or if you can't pull them up, just staple gun or use fabirc nails to secure new fabric all around the edges of the built in cushions and then glue gun fabric trim to cover the staples. If you do it carefully, noone will know you did it yourself!
have fun.

FYI heres a link to a nice assortment of crackle finishes: http://www.boskowood.com/finishing/tips/waterbase-finishing-tips/Crackle%20finishes/crackle_finishes.htm