Found: A $5 midcentury kid's chair

As you might have guessed, those lovely bentwood chairs were not meant to be mine. Not to worry because I sure didn't spend much time mulling my missed opportunity. I've long learned that the gods of Thrift Shop Finds can be quite capricious, rewarding me often enough to keep me going back but not so much that I expect to leave with goodies each time I visit a thrift store. What would be the fun in that, right?

Anyway, I've mentioned before that I am trying to be more focused while shopping in an attempt to cut down on clutter in my home. I've had mixed progress on that front due to my book/magazine addiction, but my list of home projects awaiting my attention has gone down considerably since I am bringing home less stuff. Here is my latest finished project:

Something about those curves has long made the vintage Casalino kid's chair appealing, but I never thought I'd be lucky enough to find one for an affordable price even after I stumbled upon a garage sale with a mid-century focus (photo below). Nope, no kid's chair to be seen, but it never hurts to ask.

OK, I didn't really ask for a Casalino kid's chair. I simply asked the seller whether he had anything else he was selling, so we then walked over to the open garage so I could see his other wares.

The chair was nearly hidden from view by other furniture but I asked him to pull it out. It was in such sorry shape that I almost didn't even ask the price. Look at what someone had sprayed in black paint on the back:

My frown quickly turned to a smile when I heard that the seller wanted only five dollars, such a low price that any doubts about my ability to renew the chair quickly dissipated.

I'm certainly not an an expert on refinishing furniture but I love the process of transforming a piece. I thought long and hard on how to give this chair a new look, even considered decoupaging it with a mod-print fabric for a unique look. In the end, I simply sanded it to remove paint drips, painted it with primer, then painted it in a color that I thought would go well in several rooms of my house so I could move it around as I wished.

I still think the decoupaging project I had in mind would've worked but I think glossy yellow was the way to go because it shows off the curves perfectly without any distractions.

To be honest, I don't know whether my chair is a vintage Casalino since the Netherlands furniture company Casala began producing new Casalino Jr. chairs in 2007 using original moulds. My chair was so beat-up that it very well could have been produced in the 70s, but it really doesn't matter to me.

Interestingly, I discovered that Casalino was the only furniture line ever designed by Alexander Begge. Upon describing his creations, the German designer said: "I had this image of a wisp of fog, and elaborated on that. It brought so much joy, I was in a glow."