Vanity Chair

I have had this chair since the summer. I literally bought it as it was being unloaded from a woman's truck to the front of the thrift store. I was with my daughter and we were looking for a shelf for Lucy's books and from the road saw some and pulled in. The woman who donated the shelves was still unloading. I bought this chair and the matching vanity (desk) and night stand. The desk's future is still to be decided and I redid the night stand to be a plant table (photograph at the end of this post). 

On the bottom of the chair was stamped:
GEO. FENNEL 
MT. VERNON N
 Through a web search I found the furniture company from which the chair was purchased:
 George Fennell & Company, of Mount Vernon, NY established 1901.
..along with several advertisements that where published in local newspapers over the years. Check out the prices. 

  

This advertisement was published in 1907....

This one was published in 1945. The article found within the advertisement is very indicative of the times. The country was at war and the company used the idealism of the nation's state of mind to market their furniture. I found the adjective "post-war" interesting. 

Note of Interest: My father was a World War II veteran and on the date this paper was published it was his 23rd birthday and he was most likely in one of the "far-away battlefields", dreaming of peace and a joyous homecoming. He did come home and lived to the fine age of 90. 

So, on with the story of this little chair. I pondered paint versus stain. After discovering the history of the furniture company I thought maybe I should restore the wood to its original state. To help me make the decision I painted part of the chair and sat with it for awhile. I liked the chair with color so...decision made.  

To come up with a color I mixed several samples left over from other projects.  It came out a pinkish color so I went with it. I also wanted to use chalk paint so I mixed the paint with nonsanded grout as instructed on DIY-CHALK-PAINT-RECIPES from "In My Own Style"  

After the paint dried I did a little antiquing......

and staining...

...but something was just not right. 

The little chair seemed to need something that matched its already special design. 
And then it came to me...

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 I taped off stripes with painter's tape and painted them with the chalk paint.  
(sorry, I go so excited I forgot to take any pictures)

 To make sure this little chair can take the ware and tear of a child 
I finished with four coats of minwax polycrylic and..... 

Voila!

Thanks for visiting,

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