Gold Leafing a Salvation Army Find

Back in September, I purchased this chair from my local Salvation Army for only around $50.



So yeah... 1993 called, they wanted their chair back.

I knew I wanted to do black and white fabric and gold on the wood to go with the master bedroom the chair is going in. However, I was going back and forth between using gold metallic paint or gold leaf. After seeing Jenny's silver leafed nightstands, I knew gold leaf was the way to go. Aren't blogs great like that?

Last night I spent the better part of the night playing with gold leaf. It's actually pretty fun! It sort of reminds me of peeling off a sunburn.. (sorry! that's gross, but true).



I knew when I started I wanted an old looking, non-perfect finish. Luckily, the gold leaf did it's thing on the nooks and grooves and I love how it turned out. If it were perfect, it'd be too Donald Trump.



You'll see that the upholstery is stripped; I didn't do that myself but I'm sure you could if you are brave enough :) However, if you tell your upholsterer that you are refinishing the legs, they will let you take the chair mid-strip.

Also, in case you are curious about reupholstering - this chair cost $300 to reupholster and I live in a high-cost-of-living city. That price includes re-padding the arms and replacing the seat (and includes tax). So you see, reupholstering a vintage piece is a good value, and allows you to take classic lines and make it your own.

For the fabric, I chose this THICK black and white stripe from Premier Prints:



The stripe is 8" wide and I am pretty sure I'm going to off-center it like in the image above.

I can't wait to see the finished product! It's always fun seeing something come to life that you've been envisioning in your head for so long. But before that happens I need to gold leaf the other two legs....

edit: how could I have forgot? My friend Stefanie over at Brooklyn Limestone also silver leafed the top of her guest room side table! Check it out here.