I'm a sucker for any piece of furniture that is old, broken, or just needs a little TLC. But when I see something that could be classified as "retro"...watch out people! I make a beeline straight towards it.
That's what I did when I saw a lovely green Flex-steel couch in pristine condition just sitting there at Goodwill with a $17 price tag. CHA CHING!
About a month before our darling daughter was born, I had another moment like that.
Sadly, after my in-laws' house had a large fire, we were cleaning out and sorting the stuff that could be saved or tossed in the large dumpster they had in their driveway. As I was throwing a box of "un-save-ables" into the dumpster, I noticed a little bit of vintage aqua vinyl and rusty silver metal peeking out from behind a whole lot of rust and soot and got pretty excited.
My husband dug this beauty out.
I know what you are thinking...un-save-able, right? I even thought it might not be worth it, but Stephen assured me that he could fix it.
We also still needed a highchair for our little baby girl that was due in a 3 weeks.
So he went to work cleaning it up. After a few days of working in our backyard, he brought this lovely item into our kitchen, and I. was. floored!
Quite the cleanup job, right?? Aside from a few knicks in the vinyl, it was practically brand new!
First he cleaned off all the soot and dirt. Then it was time to attack that rust.
He found a couple items to help him out (along with a LOT of elbow grease).
To take off the rust he first brushed on the Naval Jelly with an old paintbrush (remember to use gloves to protect those hands!) He left this on for about 15 min and then washed it off with water and an old rag.
First make a paste using the powder and a tiny bit of water, and rub it on with a rag or sponge. After a bit of elbow grease, it polished up the metal real nice!
They have Bar Keepers Friend in a liquid form, but I like the powder MUCH better!
For the tray and footrest, he removed the rust and coated it with White Rust-oleum Appliance Epoxy.
For the last step, he did a wet sand on the spray painted surfaces in order to make it smooth.
It worked out pretty well, I think! Well worth the time and energy...er, elbow grease.
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