Found: Ikea dining chair, sitting in one of the alleys I passed on the way to the lakefront. Somebody had tried giving it a coat of dark stain, then cast it out to the garbage gods.

Makeover materials: Montana Gold spray paint (love the qualities of Montana paint) in two colors:  Shock Turquoise Light and Mango, a scavenged piece of 1/2″ thick wood, a jigsaw and two clamps

Process: To start, I fished an empty cereal box out of the recycling to make a template of the mighty capital S.  I cut it out, then traced around it on the surface of the scavenged piece of wood.

Next, I cut out the wood S.  I used a jigsaw, which made it a slow process, since the task really required a more powerful too, such as a band saw. Lacking it, I used the vintage jigsaw my dad gave me ages ago, stopping often because the small but persevering saw overheated.

With the cutting complete, I took out a sheet of 150 grit sandpaper and used it to smooth the edges of the letter.  Then I was ready to spray paint, first doing the chair turquoise. When dry, I marked off the chair rungs with painter’s tape and sprayed the S, I and T parts in Mango.

To attach the S to the chair, I used wood glue on the top and bottom.  It fit snugly to being with, and the glue makes a sturdy bond, but I might reinforce it with a few nails.