Bar Keeper's Friend – Transforming Trash

This was my second collaborative transformation, and the longest of any. I trash-picked this piece in May 2019, Nuria came on board the following year, and we started work in September 2020. It was finished on October 1, 2022! My coworker, Nuria, is a friend whose style has been honed by years of working for one of the most refined hotel chains in the world. Our combined skills were put to the test on this piece that needed a lot of TLC. The result is charming: a one-of-a-kind piece, loaded with designer touches.

Materials used: Rust-Oleum 2X spray primer, Rust-Oleum 2X hight gloss white spray paint, Rust-Oleum Universal Aged Metallic Vintage Gold spray paint, decorative paper, gold finish furniture legs, glass, hardboard, bright brass decorative corners.

What first attracted me to this small cupboard was the leaded lattice glass. Sadly, a pane was missing and the leading was damaged so we ended up discarding it. We knew we also needed to replace the back panel and remove the peeling top coat. We got to work dismantling and sanding.

My two favorite parts of every transformation are the bookends—the initial design process, and the final coming-together of the vision. We started the design process with a trip to a scrap-booking store, where we found a beautiful turquoise paper printed with metallic birds. Replacement glass, some hardboard, gold finish furniture legs, and two different spray paints completed our supplies list.

Painting started on the interior with 2 cans of Rust-Oleum metallic paint in Vintage Gold. The original hardware was cleaned with Bar Keepers Friend.

Next, we needed to level out the uneven base. Simply sanding it meant going through the veneer to chipboard so instead we glued a shim to the corner then trimmed and sanded it.

With the gold-painted interior carefully masked, it was time to start painting the outside and the door with Rust-Oleum 2X white gloss paint.

As has happened on two previous projects, certain areas of the paintwork “wrinkled”. I still don’t understand why this sometimes happens but I can say it is a pain when it does. The only solution was to go back and sand the problem areas, apply primer, and then paint again.

Many weeks later…when all the paint flaws had been ironed out, all that remained was to put the pieces together. We installed a new pane of glass in the door, attached the new, papered hardboard back panel, re-installed the original hardware, added bright brass decorative corners to the top, and attached the new feet.

Materials used: Vinyl sparkle red upholstery fabric, hardboard, cardboard.

When these diner chairs were offered up on our neighborhood Facebook page, I didn’t hesitate. It looked like an upholstery project I could handle, and it’s not every day you get to work on something so quintessentially American. A friend who also expressed an interest immediately became the bespoke recipient and picked out the new vinyl.

At first glance the finished chairs don’t look that different from the original ones, other than the color of the vinyl. On closer inspection, though, you can see that the old vinyl was scuffed, damaged, and grubby. Also the cardboard under the seats was stained and torn.

I started by removing the upholstered seats and backs from the frame, and taking off all the old vinyl. Thankfully all of the structure beneath the vinyl was in good shape and could be re-used.

I then took apart the frame, cleaned the chrome with Bar Keeper’s Friend, and re-assembled it.

Using the old card as a template I cut new seat bases out of hardboard. I then began re-upholstering the seats and backs with the gorgeous red sparkle vinyl.

Along the way I learned the technique of using a hairdryer to warm the vinyl so it can be stretched more neatly over the corners. I thought the seats turned out really well, but I was not satisfied with the back pads; where the two pieces joined together it was too lumpy and bumpy.

After putting them aside for several months I came back to the drawing board with a new approach. My friends at Daniel’s Southern Decorators gave me some of the upholstery card that I hadn’t been able to find anywhere else. Now I was able to replace the old, crumbling card. Using the dressmaking technique of notching, I cut the vinyl to reduce as much bulk as possible. I then “wrapped” the card with the vinyl, attaching it with hot glue and leaving the top, long edge loose. I attached the loose vinyl to the other back panel by stapling through some cardboard tape to protect the fabric. Finally I could flip the wrapped card into place and secure it with the original upholstery pins.