I watch too much TV
and specifically too much Trading Spaces recently.
Why do I say that? Well, I decided to refinish two rather ugly -- but quite nicely shaped -- chairs that were probably born in the 1970s and existed in my former office as third-hand-me-downs well beyond their natural lives. I bought a really nice remnant of upholstery fabric and matching cording today. And I removed the grungy, old orange vinyl upholstery and all the staples off of one of them. I sanded down the varnish and painted the wood black, not just once but twice.
But I didn't sand enough of the varnish off because the paint is cracking a bit in some spots. It just refuses to stick. And I don't have an air pressure staple or nail gun to attach the new material. Or a trained carpenter and a resourceful designer advising me. So I'll be painting the chair again at least once more tomorrow and hoping that the third coat sticks. But if it doesn't, I'll slap on another coat and force the damned thing into submission by sheer force of will, although clearly not skill.
But either way, the chair looks much better without its orange skin. And I can see that once the paint decides to stick that this chair will be really, really nice.
It looks much easier to do on TV -- and that's the problem with TV. It makes you think you can do all sorts of things that you really have no business even trying... like solving complicated personal problems in half an hour, getting the "Rachel" haircut, redecorating your livingroom in two days all by yourself or saying things like "that color really pops". Those things look and sound cool on TV, but do them in real life? No problems are simply solved in half an hour, and then you're left with cracking paint.
Or something like that.
Why do I say that? Well, I decided to refinish two rather ugly -- but quite nicely shaped -- chairs that were probably born in the 1970s and existed in my former office as third-hand-me-downs well beyond their natural lives. I bought a really nice remnant of upholstery fabric and matching cording today. And I removed the grungy, old orange vinyl upholstery and all the staples off of one of them. I sanded down the varnish and painted the wood black, not just once but twice.
But I didn't sand enough of the varnish off because the paint is cracking a bit in some spots. It just refuses to stick. And I don't have an air pressure staple or nail gun to attach the new material. Or a trained carpenter and a resourceful designer advising me. So I'll be painting the chair again at least once more tomorrow and hoping that the third coat sticks. But if it doesn't, I'll slap on another coat and force the damned thing into submission by sheer force of will, although clearly not skill.
But either way, the chair looks much better without its orange skin. And I can see that once the paint decides to stick that this chair will be really, really nice.
It looks much easier to do on TV -- and that's the problem with TV. It makes you think you can do all sorts of things that you really have no business even trying... like solving complicated personal problems in half an hour, getting the "Rachel" haircut, redecorating your livingroom in two days all by yourself or saying things like "that color really pops". Those things look and sound cool on TV, but do them in real life? No problems are simply solved in half an hour, and then you're left with cracking paint.
Or something like that.
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