That '70s Chair

...Well, I'm not really sure how old these chairs are, but one things for sure: They are are from a decade that is long gone!

I found these simple oak chairs this morning at the local Goodwill store. I really wasn't looking for chairs, but there they were! Goodwill Gold! (And at $4 each, they were even more perfect!)

I love the worn look of them. They remind me of the chairs you'd see in a college library. Imagine how many hung-over college students sat in these chairs over the years!

After giving each chair a little wiggle to make sure they weren't too wobbly, I soon came to the conclusion that they only needed one or two screws tightened and a good old cleaning. So off I went to the register with one chair in each hand! And let me tell you, these chairs were hea-vy! I nearly broke a sweat!

I didn't even bother carrying these chairs inside when I got home. Nope! They first needed lots and lots (and lots!) of cleaning to get through that layer of grime so the "patina" can show through. I left them on the front porch and brought out my arsenal of buckets and sudsy water and then I scrub, scrub, scrubbed for about 30 minutes.

After their much needed cleaning with a little sudsy water, and then some Murphy oil soap, I gave these chairs a rub-down with some Old English furniture repair polish. After that, I used some regular wood furniture polish to really make them shine.

Wow! Talk about a power combo! Soon these chairs were just shining in the sunlight coming into my front porch. Are they perfect, museum-quality chairs? Well, no. Did I want perfect, museum-quality chairs? Absolutely not. After all, I did pick them up at Goodwill! These chairs look great in my office, replacing the mismatched chairs that I've been wanting to replace.

With this $8 investment, I am so pleased! And now I have matching chairs for my kids to sit in when they're all playing on the computer together. I have to say it was a good (will) day!