This week I finally started to realize that I'm not the single person in the world who's ever lost a beloved pet and a best friend. I started planning some new projects around the house and decided that I should pull myself together and stop sulking. So, let's talk about chairs. 

I purchased this old piece of settee a while after we moved into our house. It was not bought from a fancy antique store, more like a old furniture shop, and it was inexpensive. If you looked up close, the paint was pretty hideous, and I wasn't sure what was underneath it, somehow I thought it might be some type of raisin or fiberboard.  Then I started poking around it, and dropped a tiny bit of paint stripper here and there just because I was curious.

At first I saw a layer of thin gold color, which I thought was very pretty. It made me wonder if the settee was gilded? Then there was a layer of redish paint, and a cakey white coat at the bottom. I'm guessing that the gold might be it's original color but it was at some point poorly refinished and then reupholstered.

At last, after all the surface paint was removed, I saw the beautiful carved solid wood. There's something very special about natural wood that appeal to me very much. Now I'm dreaming about stripping the entire paint off of the frame, and either paint it in a natural color or gild the frame to restore to its gold color, and then give it a new clean upholstery!