Set of Six Refinished Chairs

Here are a set of six antique chairs that I refinished. They were in need of some TLC- very worn with who knows how many years of finishes and dust layered on top of the original paint. I took the seats and legs down to bare wood and hoped to preserve the paint on the tops which had a faint stenciled design on them. I masked the tops and sprayed the bottoms black, then carefully hand sanded the tops to remove the years of grossness, yet preserving the painted stencil work. I couldn't believe it when the designs started to re-emerge, it was like finding a buried treasure! I distressed the freshly painted bottoms a bit to match the look of the top. I finished them all up with a few layers of clear gloss lacquer and the final product looks like this:
Ta Da! I loved this project, and might have started collecting some small pieces of furniture that people have left on the side of the road. One person's trash is another one's treasure, right?? I keep trying to tell that to Steve. He is not very happy that I have started bringing stinky old furniture home. But it has so much potential!! You just wait, I will turn them all into masterpieces.