Retro Renovation» cleaning

How I restored my vintage tulip table and shell chairs

pam kueber — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 09:30:05 +0000

When I first bought my vintage tulip table and chairs, the steel bases were pocked and rusted… the fiberglass shell chairs were dirty and dingy… and the laminate tabletop and rubber edge were yellowed and soiled. How did I get them to look like new? Secrets revealed today!

Above: A shell chair “after” complete restoration.

First, how to clean and revive the vintage fiberglass shell chair … the seat portion? After buying the dingy chairs, I went online to search for help and pretty much right away found: Chairfag.com’s Original Shell Chair Restoration Guide. I do not like the name of this site at all, but there you go. As part of their tutorial, they recommended a product called Penetrol — it’s available at big box home stores, or you can buy via my little Amazon widget and disclosure: I get a teensy spiff that helps keep the blog boat afloat.

To do this work… and to repaint the metal bases of the table and chairs, I called in a pro — Shaun Guinan of Reworks Vintage Interiors in Pittsfield, Mass. I actually met Shawn at my first garage sale of the summer. He came by and bought some old metal chairs I had for sale. We got to talking, and I learned that he specialized in metal refinishing and repair. So after the sale, he came back, took a look, and gave me an estimate that seemed fair. Most importantly, he seemed to have the caution, patience — and sensibility – that is required to mess with old stuff.

Above: All done!

For the metal bases on the table and chairs, Shaun thought that the prep and repainting would be pretty straightforward — and it was. He told me that he sanded down the rust, then primed with two coats of a basic auto body primer (sand between coats), then spray-repainted with a single-stage auto body lacquer with matting agent to bring down the shine. He did NOT put a clearcoat on, because I did not want a super-high-gloss finish. He had all the equipment and the dust-free booth to do the work. And, he even came back once to my house to review some shades of white so that I could pick the one I wanted.

Above: The shell chair, restored and purty.

To restore the luster on the shell chairs — he used the chairfag / penetrol method as described – and it worked beautifully. He told me that he cleaned the fiberglass lightly, then used the penetrol, all per the instructions. This method brought the shine right out — the chairs look great. In addition, there was a bit of a chip in the top back of one of the chairs. He filled this with marine epoxy, trying to match the epoxy to the white fiberglass as best he could. Matching was impossible – but he came close enough and honestly, you’d have to really be focused on looking for flaws. Note, read through the comments on the post referenced above, and you can see feedback that trying to fix serious cracks in fiberglass shell chairs can be futile; I hope the little chippy cracky in mine holds up; we’ll see. The guidance seems to be: Find chairs with shells that are intact — preferred. As a final step in the chair restoration, Shaun replaced the old wrecked vinyl seat cushion with a rich cherry-colored leather — he actually had a remmant in his shop and when he showed it to me, I thought it would be fine. It’s a deeper red than the previous candy-apple cushions and looks great. When he took the original cushions apart, he found that the plywood base of the cushion (which is screwed into the chair) is actually contoured. The plywood was grody — but to try and replicate the contour was nigh on impossible. So he cleaned it up best he could, added new foam, and the leather. The chairs … and the table base… look fantabulous.

Above: Crest whitening toothpaste in action. I wonder if the plaque-fighting stuff is making any difference.

When it came to cleaning up the table top, Pammy got DIY-crafty. First, the edge of the table — which I *think* is rubber or some such composite – was all scuffy and grody. What should I use? How about Crest whitening toothpaste, which I had in the bathroom. Yes, I was thinking, what can I use that is a bit abrasive but NOT TOO MUCH, and which will whiten? Toothpaste! It worked pretty darn well. But my follow on Step #2 was even more effective: A Mr. Clean white eraser. I read the instructions, used the magic eraser and that brought the edging back to pretty darn clean whiteness. **Note, though, Maria thinks the white eraser is very abrasive — it takes the faces right off of vintage dolls; so be careful — make your own decisions! My table was so darn grody I took the chance. I’ll update if I see any visible longterm consequences.

Above: Attacking the ground-in rusty gunk with toothpaste, a Dobey and Blue Heaven.

Now: the laminate tabletop. Here’s what it looked like “before.” Again, I first used Crest whitening toothpaste in the toughest spots. This was working okay, but pretty tedious, so I switched to the Mr. Clean white eraser — and wow, that worked like a dream. Now, there are all kinds of warnings on the Mr. Clean white eraser about testing on hidden spots, etc. I didn’t do that. I just winged it. And it seems fine. Lord knows what the longterm consequences are… so make your own decisions, don’t just do what I did… In any case, my tabletop was in dire straits. If I didn’t get it clean, DH was gonna make me go get it re-laminated. And I did not want THE PROJECT to continue any longer than it had to. Note: DH was VERY IMPRESSED with the project’s outcome; I think he was kind of skeptical, initially. Like, what piece of beat up old crap pardon-my-French have you brought into the house this time? Not that I blame him. I have a bad record on completing projects with half-ass pardon-my-French outcomes.

Above: Letting the toothpaste soak in.

While that Mr. Clean white eraser seemed to work miracles overall, the deeply embedded ”rusty” spots were still resistant. So I went back to the toothpaste… letting it sink in a bit… and except for a very faint ring, the rusty looking gunk is gone. It’s one of those things where you have to bend your head and look sideways in the table to see the ring, which is very faint but still there.

As a last step, I applied a few coats of Countertop Magic (liquid spray), which was originally recommended by Grace Jeffers of laminate preservation fame. Grace also contributed to our discussion about how to revive laminate – she was the original proponent of Countertop Magic and warns against abrasives and wax. Hmmmm. I wonder how penetrol would work on beat-up laminate…Penetrol is an oil conditioner and laminates like oil, Grace said… I will have to ask her what she think of trying Penetrol on old laminate…

Above: That’s Shaun Guinan of Reworks Vintage, Pittsfield – who restored the shell chairs and table and chair base. Great work, Shaun!

Voila. I am now the proud owner of a restored, vintage Saarinen style tulip table and shell chair set. Shaun found some markings when he took the table and chairs apart. I wrote them down and will research them some time. I tend to this is vintage Burke — which can fetch a pretty penny. But I don’t really care. I usually buy furnishing for my home to live with and enjoy, not generally as investments. For me, the fun is putting all this oddball stuff together in a happy homey unique-just-to-me way. And yes, THE PROJECTS always do make for a better story, don’t they?

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How to revive laminate countertops?

pam kueber — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:59:14 +0000

A reader wrote to ask how to bring the luster back to her vintage laminate countertops. Paste wax, maybe? To get the answer, I turned to expert Grace Jeffers. She is the writer, design historian and materials expert responsible for restoration of the Ralph Sr. and Sunny Wilson House – including its gorgeous Mondrian-style kitchen, above. Grace wrote back pronto:

Do use them with COUNTERTOP MAGIC. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT USE WAX. Plastics do not like wax, they like oil. In the Wilson house I used almonst an entire can of countertop magic for each 4 x 8 panel. Let it soak overnight and then polish with a clean cloth in the a.m.

Grace Jeffers

Readers, I actually bought some of this stuff — and my DH, the cleaner of the house — really likes it. We use the liquid spray, not the aerosol. We bought it from Amazon, as we could not find it locally:

Amazon.com Widgets

Thanks, Grace! And reader – oopsy, I lost your email, thanks for your question!

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Do I need to polish my newly installed vinyl VCT tiles?

pam kueber — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:00:36 +0000

This is a hot topic: Readers are hearing from floor sales people that they need to polish and buff their newly installed vinyl composite floor tiles like the professionals do in office buildings.

Dotty from Columbus writes:

Dear Pam, as I have come to terms with the sad new about the Fritztile I wanted…and as I have come to the end of the flooring road… I thought I would settle with sheet vinyl. I was checking out the day on RetroRenovation, I clicked on your kitchen. I have looked at it hundreds of times and yet failed to look at your flooring. Okay, around to my question. I have always wanted Armstrong/Congoleum tile but have been talked out of it by flooring salesmen. It all seems to swarm around the buffing and polishing. They have recommended buffing 3 times per year by a professional to keep the dirt out of the surface to prevent staining, including stripping? How do you maintain your flooring and does any of this sound familiar? Oh, any exactly which product did you decide on? Commercial/Residential? Thanks from Columbus. Dotty

And reader Dee writes:

was wondering – can a vct floor be put in kitchen – high traffic – does it have to be buffed and waxed like they are telling me or can I just mop? what are the consequences to that?

My experience:

My floor is Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze -12″ tiles – installed at 90-degrees to each other (important detail!). It is commercial tile, I believe – as are most other brands like this including Armstrong’s Imperial Excelon, the Congoleum tile, etc. In fact, it’s often hard to find online because you must remember to go to the Commercial section.
See my Fast & Easy Flooring Page for all current flooring recommendations.
Reader Meredith - whose kitchen is in the lead photo — installed the same floor. She says that she brought in a pro, at least initially: “I’ve already installed the Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze into my kitchen and laundry room. I absolutely love it! I had someone come out and put about 5 coats of polish on them so they are really shiny.”
I have had these kinds of floor twice now. Both times, I simply used an Armstrong floor polish from Home Depot. I cleaned the floor really well – then put on a few thin coats drying well between. In my last house, I had the floor 6 years, it never aged a bit. This floor is looking kind of scratchy – but I didn’t put the polish on for a year, and I really don’t have many coats on. It’s so neutral – gosh, I don’t notice the imperfections a bit.
I do strip it occasionally — like once a year — which is a real pain — and repeat the process to get the virgin-ish shine again.
I do not buff my floor. But, I’m kind of interested in doing that sometime, and I am on the lookout for a vintage, estate-sale buffer including the pads. Back in the 50s, they really pushed these on housewives, there seem to be a lot out there.
As far as “high traffic” goes — these are Commercial floor tiles. Our kitchens do not come anywhere near the traffic levels these tiles are designed for.
Perhaps the sales people are trying to talk you out of these – because they want you to buy a floor that will wear out and which costs more?

All that said – this is just my opinion. I know that other readers have put in these floors — some have indeed had pro’s come in to polish them up.

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