From Trash to Treasures
Castoff furnishings become heirlooms
Diane Dorrans Saeks
Wednesday, June 16, 1999
© 2001 San Francisco Chronicle

One of the reasons flea-market finds, thrift-shop buys, vintage-store purchases and garage-sale treasures are inexpensive is that they usually need repair, repainting, reupholstery and refurbishment.

While many people have the talent (and tools and space) to do this exacting work themselves, others turn instead to the best decorative artists, upholsterers and refinishers they can find.

To demonstrate how inexpensive, worn-out flea-market furniture can be transformed to new elegance, we selected three versatile pieces -- two chairs and a stool -- that needed work.

Quick and cheap was not the goal here. Instead we wanted to create elegant ``antique'' furniture that would hold its own in a polished interior -- furniture that we would keep a lifetime. We selected a new Randolph & Hein silk for two of the seats, suede for the third.

The four Bay Area experts who transformed these three pieces usually work for interior decorators, and all have decades of experience. -- From brown to brilliant:

The chair, purchased for $15 at the Sunday Alemany Flea Market, was lovely, but the wood was a cheesy brown and the worn-out seat was a glaring gold rayon. The design plan was to freshen up the wood and recover the seat cushion.

Costs: Stripping and painting (in semigloss ivory as a base) by Ciarlo Brothers of San Francisco: $75. Gilding the back, subtly antiquing the ivory paint and adding a delicate stencilled leaf pattern along the apron, by Sausalito decorative artist Samantha Renko: $450. Remaking the seat cushion and covering it, by Belmar Co. of San Francisco: $130. The fabric, from the Randolph & Hein silk collection: $75. -- From chipped to charming:

The original stool, found at the Alemany Flea Market in San Francisco for $12, was interesting, but the seat cushion was falling apart and the legs were chipped and dated looking. The plan was to update the style and make it more elegant.

Costs: Stripping and repainting by Ciarlo Brothers: $75. Upholstery by Belmar Co.: $140. The fabric, from the Randolph & Hein silk collection, for the tufted and buttoned seat: $75. -- From ripped to riveting: A shapely but bright turquoise French chair with a cane back was purchased at a rummage sale for $165. It needed refinishing, and the seat was ripped and falling apart. Costs: Elegant refinishing, antiquing and gilding by Campero's of San Francisco: $250. Giving the chair a new suede seat cushion and finishing it off with a jewel-like trim of small nailheads around the legs, by Belmar Co.: $230.