Charlie

 "Charlie"

Love this set! I found the footstool at a local thrift and the chair at a Goodwill. Here's the before of both. 

Um, yea...gross. Seriously disgusting upholstery on the chair. Dirty, stinky, sticky, yucky - GROSS. Enough said. BUT really curving lines on the stool and super pretty detail on the chair. So I put on my "stink cover" (as my son would say) - a.k.a. shirt over the nose, bought the chair and brought it home.

 

I removed the nasty upholstery (after I donned my heavy-duty  orange "ick removal" gloves of course) and set out to get some paint. I've been wanting to do a piece in blue, but everytime I go for paint I get sucked into the pinks and turquoises and buy those instead. I swear I have "shiny object" syndrome. Oh well. I found this pretty upholstery to go with the blue paint. Done deal.

The bottom of the chair is stamped "Boggs & Buhl Pittsburgh, PA."
After consulting the ever so trusty Google, I found that the Boggs and Buhl department store opened in 1826 and closed its doors in 1955. It was considered a "North Side institution here in the 'Burg. I'm not sure what era this chair dates back to, but it's a neat piece of history that I feel honored to have saved from the dump. Check out the article here.

So here they are finished. They're painted pretty peacock blue with a coat of glaze to bring out the details, and finished in a dark wax -Lovely! I'm calling the pair Charlie, after the lovely southern city of Charleston...which I'm in love with by the way! The fabric adds to that tropical southern charm. Can't you see this chair on a porch side piazza for which Charleston is so famous for? - Cool breeze, good book, and sweet tea in hand? Ahhhh....lovely!

This set isn't for sale in my Etsy store. It's going to raffle for a great cause - The 10th Annual "Sarris Candies Run for Alex" in Bentleyville, PA on June 7th at 9am. This is a great event put on by one of my dear friends and her family in honor of her sister, Alex Loos, who was struck and killed by a reckless driver in August of 2004 at the age of 15. Proceeds from the event and raffle go to scholarship funds in her honor. Please consider coming out for this event. There is a 1 mile fun walk for kids and adults, a 2 mile run, and a 5 mile run. Please visit From Alex with Love for more information. It's sure to be a great day and you could even go home with this beautiful chair!