Few things in life are more satisfying than breathing new life into pieces of furniture that once looked far past their prime. Often, old cane chairs are still structurally sound and rather lovely from a design standpoint, but their caning gets aged and unsightly.
If you have the drive to bring a cane chair back to life and add a little something extra to make it aesthetically pleasing, then this makeover project might be your idea of the perfect afternoon, leaving you with a piece of furniture that has character in spades.
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Materials
- Mallet
- Thin chisel
- Old cane chair
- Needle-nose pliers
- Power drill
- Caning kit
- Scissors
- Wood glue
- X-Acto knife
- Pen or marker
- Chalk paint and brush
- Sanding block in fine grade
- Blue painters tape
- Chalk paint
- Thin chisel
- Old cane chair
- Needle-nose pliers
- Power drill
- Caning kit
- Scissors
- Wood glue
- X-Acto knife
- Pen or marker
- Chalk paint and brush
- Sanding block in fine grade
- Blue painters tape
- Chalk paint
DIY Everywhere
Instructions
1. Begin removing the old caning using your mallet, chisel and pliers. Drive the chisel into the edges with the mallet, and then pull at those edges with the pliers.
2. Repeat step 1 with each successive layer of caning until you reach the cushioning. At that point, drive the chisel into the perimeter of the inner wooden ring until loosened.
3. Turn the chair over, so you can see the bottom of the seat. Use the power drill to remove the screws holding the bottom blank of wood in place.
4. Remove the layer of fabric stapled to the underside of the chair with the pliers.
5. Remove the layer of cushioning from the bottom side with the pliers.
6. Even out the top side of the seat using the sanding block to prepare for the new caning.
7. Place elements of the caning kit in water, and soak for 20-30 minutes, so they're more malleable.
8. Line the new caning up with the opening in the chair, fraying the edges so they're easier to wedge into the seam of the seat. Use the wedge tool that comes as part of the caning kit to push edges into that seam.
9. Use scissors to cut off extra caning from the edges as you push the entire perimeter into the chair. Once you've wedged the caning into the seam, line it with wood glue and attach the edging, pressing it in with the mallet and trimming with the X-Acto knife.
10. Choose a spot about halfway up the back of the chair, and pull a strip of blue painters tape evenly across it. Mark the spot on each of the chair's rungs with a pen or marker where the bottom of that tape hits.
11. Individually wrap smaller strips of tape around each of the rungs, matching the bottom of these strips with the spot you marked in step 10.
12. Apply chalk paint to the entire bottom part of the chair up to the strips of tape. Once dry, remove the tape to reveal the dip-dyed aesthetic.
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