Yes. Sad. I know.

So, I got him home, wiped him down with a damp rag, followed by a damp magic eraser to take off all the grime (he was pretty dirty) and took inventory. He was missing glides on the bottom of two legs, which I replaced using these (found at Home depot for less than 2 bucks).

I simply tapped them into the existing holes on the chair legs using a rubber mallet. Then, to cover up the small nicks and a few areas where the finish had been worn down on the wood, I used this amazing stuff….

You simply rub it on with a clean rag (I treated the entire wood surface) and wipe it off immediately. It’s kind of fumey, so be sure to work in a well-ventilated area – I did this in our garage with the door open. Wait 30 minutes, then follow it up with this…

It adds moisture and shine to the wood like nobody’s business. You just wipe it on. Wait 20 minutes, and wipe off the excess. That’s it. Easy peasy.

The vinyl cushions were in great shape aside from a few rubbed-down, faded areas on the underneath corners of the arm rests. I just wiped on a little leather conditioner on those small areas to give them some life. Note: Im not sure if Im supposed to use leather conditioner on vinyl, but I figured it was worth a shot since I already had it on hand. I didn’t use it on the entire cushion for fear that it would be greasy and stain our clothes when we sat down. The areas I did use it on, however, perked right up and blended in great with the rest of the cushion.

Now I’ll tell ya, I did have one fear regarding this chair. In the store (and outside), the cushions looked very purple. We have little to no purple in the house and I felt that recovering the cushions would take away from the chair’s character. So, at this point I had decided that if the chair didn’t work in our house, I would sell it, intact, on Craigslist (hopefully to someone who would love it as much as I do). But alas, my fears were unfounded. As soon as I placed the chair in the office, the cushions took on much less of a purple hue and appeared much more burgundy, which worked great in the room. Its amazing how different lighting affects color. It also goes to show that you don’t know if an item will work until you actually try it in a room. I’m a big proponent of buying, trying and returning if it doesn’t work for this very reason.

Take a look at the shined up finished product…

I just love the quality and look of the wood.  All of the details in construction.  Plus, he’s comfy to sit in and reeks of character.    And another glimpse of our office area…