oh my, i love this chair! personally i would have kept it chipped and rusty. i love the distressed aesthetic.

that should be cue not queue,

yours sincerely,

a pedant

What a beautiful and creative job of rehabilitation. I have the same chair, which by the way is also in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC

I love the original chair. It was simply gorgeous.

I love before and afters- the chair turned out beautiful!♥

The before was much better.

Hi, I love you blog!
And, honestly, I really liked the chair before. It had that shabby chic vintage look. BUT, I also do like the chair when re-done.

I love the before. Sorry, but I would have preserved its aging beauty.

Wow, it really needed to be painted. It looked so junky before! I love the color.

Oh man—I’m all for redocorations, but that’s a travesty. I have this same chair, and it’s a classic as is–It’s called an ironrite health chair, and they still get $150 on ebay in bad condition–it’s an icon of machine age design. Plus that chair was 65 years old, and deserved better rehabilitation. What a pity

A bit of sanding would have been enough – as I do prefer the ambiance of shabby chic pieces.

dude — seriously! it’s CUE!!!! “taking a cue”! (“queue” refers to a line of people.)
you guys seriously need a copy editor!

Happy to read there are others who love the ‘before’…too.

good lord i’m lusting after that chair!

I’m so glad for the information on that chair from the comments – I have one in great condition with the original sticker, and it’s the most comfortable chair in the house. I never thought to look it up, because I just like it. I bought it at the sale of items that at a church that was being decommissioned (is that the word?) and it was used while the church ladies worked the mangle, pressing the linens and robes and such. They couldn’t believe I wanted to buy it, and wondered if $10 was too much (I left the mangle – I had one for a few years and didn’t ever use it as much as I thought I would…)

That said, as a long-time seller and user of funky vintage items (occasionally lucking into things such as this chair), I think whatever someone does to actually use and enjoy anything is fine and good – and while the makeover is not to my taste, for the next time it’s painted I hope the prep work and finishing is better. A quick spray paint job like this, while immediately satisfying, won’t last as long as the original finish or even a well-done one. But even if that’s not the point, the next time someone wants to make it over, removing the drips and adding more layers of paint over the rusty parts that weren’t sanded well will look more and more um…make-over-ish. It’s cute, but it won’t last in terms of style or quality and makes more work for future generations.

There’s no reason chairs like this, well-taken care of, can’t last another lifetime. Or a few. Like Jack said – that chair lasted 65 years, until it was exposed to elements – where it was never meant to be; and it now has a paint job that won’t last long. Anything worth doing is worth doing well, especially with things of quality and value. It’s from a time when possessions weren’t so disposable. This has turned into a spiel about taking good care of possessions, so they last and so that others can eventually enjoy them, for which I kind of apologize but also want to promote.

I too much prefered the chair when it was old and distresed!

oh no! the before was SO much better. :(

…the before was so absolutely perfect!

The chair shown before and after is simply superb. Instead of wasting that exposed chair its a beautiful thing to remake it. Great job