This post has multiple purposes. First, I wanted to share what had happened to this poor chair. I found it in a very out of the way spot. The person who had it had painted it purple in an attempt to "upcycle". I was horrified by the color but bought it because I loved the shape and it is stamped France & Daverkosen. This chair can be completely disassembled (I'm not sure if that's typical or not). It appears to have the original cushions. They have springs inside and are quite heavy.
So, there's purple paint slapped carelessly on the frame of the chair. I think I'm lucky that they didn't bother to paint the under sides and places that don't show, because I don't have to worry about trying to get that paint off. They didn't sand the chair, so the paint is sitting on top of the old, slick finish This was a blonde wood that has a shiny top coat. You can see the original wood color/finish in the last two photos. Does anyone know how to successfully get that paint off without having to sand through the entire original finish as well?
My third purpose is to try to determine who designed this chair for France & Daverkosen. Any help would be appreciated.
Sandra
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Sandra, nice find. Do you know what kind of paint they used? That will help you determine the best way to remove it. Personally, though, I would find a qualified furniture refinisher with a flow-over system to do the work for you. It probably wouldn't cost more than $100 and would save you a ton of of stress... stripping that by hand would be a messy pain.
I'm not sure what kind of paint it is, though it looks suspiciously like latex. It's thick and gloppy, for lack of a better word. I don't understand why anyone would paint this chair.
I'm going to try to find some way to restore it to its original glory. We're limited in refinishers in our area, but I think you're right...it would be very stressful to do this myself. I'd rather hand it over to someone and have them give me back a beautiful chair.
It is Hvidt and Mølgaard. It should disassemble. Nearly all a France and Søn does. Maybe literally all?
I don't know if you are going to be able to get the paint off and leave the finish underneath on. Unless the paint is literally peeling and chipping off, it has probably adhered well enough, at least in some places, that it the finish underneath will come off with the paint.
Also this chair is beech with a colored finish (tinted lacquer?) over it. So if you sand into the wood, it will be quite light in most places, and probably stained in some places.
To get a factory like finish you would not want to use a tinted oil. It will accentuate the grain, which was the opposite of what the factory wanted with the finish.
Thank you all so much for your advice and info. You've been so helpful. My experience with a chair like this is limited. We don't tend to find much non-American furniture where we are located. I'm hoping that the next time I post photos, it looks much better and closer to the original. I don't think it can worse.:)
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