For months, Chelsea and I looked for cane back chairs for the dining room. Unfortunately, the ones we found through normal retail channels were either poor constructed or extremely expensive. The ones on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, etc. were usually in sets of four or six. We needed eight.
Finally, a listing for eight Restoration Hardware chairs popped on Facebook Marketplace for a really good deal. Unfortunately, it was in a town a couple of hours away. After initially being responsive, the seller went silent for two days. Meanwhile, she raised the price. She said their children had been sick, hence the delay in working out a time to meet, and that the husband had unknowingly negotiated a higher price with the nextdoor neighbor during the time that I had agreed to buy them. Hmmm.
Frustrated and feeling like I was possibly being played, I had a decision to make. Ultimately, Chelsea and I agreed that if she had been asking the higher amount from the beginning we would have happily paid it. In order to curtail any more shenanagins, I told her I would pay the higher price, but I wanted to pick them up as soon as possible. She agreed and I made the drive. Fortunately, the four hours in the car and transaction were uneventful.
BUT, when I got home and unloaded the chairs the wood tones didn’t match our table at all. Are you kidding me?!? How is that possible? It was definitely possible. If you have been following our posts, you may remember our dining room table has a significant red undertone. These chairs, while what I thought was a neutral brown, had a strong yellow undertone when sitting next to the table.
Now what (other than wallow in self-pity)?
I did nothing with them for two and a half months. I didn’t have the emotional energy and I hoped they would grow on me. The only thing that grew was my sense of dread at dealing with them. Finally, I took one of the chairs to a local specialty lumberyard. (The same one where we bought the wood for the table.) The first person I spoke to had no idea how to change the wood tone, but he called over another customer, someone he obviously knew well. The fellow customer apparently does a lot of woodwork. He said it would be a lot of work due to the roughness and details of the chair surface, but suggested I sand the finish down enough to get to expose at least some bare wood, then try a hard drying tinted wax by Rubio Monocoat.
Knowing how hard it was to find chairs and factoring in the price I paid, I have been scared to follow his recommendation. What if it didn’t work? What if I ruin them? Grrrr.
I finally decided to try the process with one chair and then reevaluate. The photo above shows the result. The effect is subtle, which in my opinion is a positive, but it makes a big difference.
Due to the amount of time and difficulty of hand sanding, I have decided to prep one chair a day and then stain them all at once in about a week. Hopefully, all goes well and I can post a final dining room update soon.