Before and After: Retro Chairs

So, I've been on the hunt to swell my stock and came across 4 of these chairs in a charity shop.

I loved the curve of the wooden back and the simple straight legs. But, when I got them home I realised that the dark brown of the wood was not its normal colour. The chairs were in fact covered in a layer of dirt, grease and possibly nicotine (my hands came up very yellow!?). So I went about cleaning the wood. This involved a lot of scrubbing, with me gradually getting dirtier and the chairs cleaner.

But as you can see from the photo, the wood should actually be a yellow as seen on the right. When I looked at recovering the seats I started stripping the layers of previous upholstery to find that the original black seat covers were in a fantastic condition. So this is the final result.

Only 3 more to go and they will be done. I sense I am going to spend the next few days covered in dirt!
xx