Vintage School Chair

I've got some factual tidbits today from back before dirt was invented.

OK perhaps not quite that long ago, but long enough that it was hard for me to remember much about when I was in 2nd grade.

Fact; this metal and wood school chair did not belong to me during my elementary years.

My rear end never hit that seat to read about Dick and Jane or to see Spot run, and I think this style was in use before my days in the classroom.


But that fact didn't stop my new improved version of the chair from becoming pertinent to my very early youth.

I picked the chair up at a garage sale about 6 years ago along with a child's solid oak chair - both too cute to pass up.  The sale had several of both styles and I wish now that I would have bought them all.

The little vintage chair stayed the same during those years living with me, with the scratched seat and worn off industrial paint being a sign of how long ago it had been in use. 

The makeover I gave it allowed me to create a keepsake from something that originally didn't even belong to me.

How you ask?

Fact;  the name on this little chair isn't fictitious.

That is the honest to goodness name of the elementary school I attended when I lived in Granada Hills California.

Vintage Street School.

Fact;  The boy in the top row to the right of the school is named Chuck.  Chuck, I was sweet on you.  Of the 28 kids, I remember 20 first names, and I think I could get the rest in multiple choice. Not too bad considering I was only at that school for 1st and 2nd grade.  However besides my own, I only remember one last name.

I didn't have to search for keepsake inspiration to make over the vintage school chair, it was right there in black and white.

Vintage chair + vintage school name = Inspiration.

But being curious I did some googling, and while the school is still there, it's now a charter school, although still carries the "Vintage" name.

For the makeover, I gave the whole thing a slight sanding.  I could have sanded it all to bare wood and metal, but that would have involved more elbow grease than I was willing to put forth.

Fact; in 2nd grade my artistic abilities consisted of making stick people, and not very good ones at that.

I stained the wood parts with Fusion Mineral Paint stain in Cappucino and the letters were done in Cathedral Taupe paint.

I still wanted the metal part of the chair to have a metal look, so I used Brushed Steal from the Fusion line of metallics.  The frame received two coats for a solid metal look. 

On Sunday when guys in the other room were yelling things like...."TOUCH DOWN ..... YEESSSSS!"..... I made myself a set of card stock stencils that were cut out with my vinyl cutting machine.  I often use card stock because I find it less fussy than vinyl.

A repositionable adhesive was sprayed on the back of the card stock, and I eyeballed where I wanted the stencil to go.  I don't get any bleed under when I use the spay, I guess the adhesive acts as a barrier so the edges come out pretty good.  When stenciling is done I simply peel it off and throw it away.

But part of my photo shoot didn't go as planned.

Honest Abe the dog thinks that any round sphere is a ball, so the pumpkin was nudged, and then I decided an apple in Fall conjured up school thoughts more so than a pumpkin anyway.

But for Abe the apple conjured up thoughts of playing fetch and I caught him in the act of stealing the apple.

Both my husband and I watched him walk up to the apple, look around to see if he could be faster than either of us, then he ran off with the apple, damn dog.

He only ended up taking one bite of an otherwise perfectly good Honey Crisp, one at that point I no longer intend to eat.

As far as the quote on the seat of the Vintage Street School chair, what Mr. Franklin said was probably true for me as a child.

I probably still learn that way as an adult, and particularly true these days is the forget part.

Extra credit; feel free to guess which of those little girls is moi.

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