punching up a poang

Working on the crib desk got me thinking about other items that could use a re-finishing around the house, and the two that jumped out right away were the poang chair and ottoman in the basement. The origins of the chair have been lost to the sands of time, it's just been with us for as long as we can remember. But the ottoman we picked up while staging our condo. Which explains why they're two different colors, since I bought the wrong one. Whoops. At least I managed to get matching pads, even if they could use a wash by now too. But we can fix the matching now, so why not bust out the sandpaper and see if we can't stain them a nice, dignified walnut.

Forgot to take a picture before I started. Had to use the way-back machine to find one.

But first we fix, or at least make better, a few of the joints on the chair. Mostly, the one at the bottom that's missing a screw and somehow hasn't made the chair fall out from underneath anyone. At least it's motivation to get out the clamps and wood glue, b/c I've been meaning to do it for a looooong time.

This has been a long time coming.

These clamps are the worst but sometimes they do the job.

With that done, we can sand off the veneer and get the wood in some kind of condition ready for stain. I realize I probably should have taken these apart more to really get them ready, but honestly it's not like they're real furniture. 

Those are similar enough starting points this might actually work.

I disparage the chair and IKEA in general, but that doesn't mean I don't love sitting in it. It's super comfortable and I kind of wish we had a better spot for it than the basement. Even without having a real home for it, I can't bring myself to throw it out. Re-staining it won't help us find a better place for it, but if it gets a cosmetic upgrade it'll make my argument for not throwing it easier to make. Now all I've got to do is find time to do the rest of the work.