Housing Works auction items: page 2

 UMBERTO chair

Found: Seventh Ave at 1st St, Park Slope, Brooklyn; Sept 24 at 3:30am

To redo this rusty, dried-out school chair, we treated the wood with a new coat of Minwax stain and orange oil. Then we scraped the rust off the legs with sandpaper and brushed them with Rust-Oleum primer. Finally, we chose a Tiffany-like blue enamel paint for the metal parts.

Materials: Minwax stain, orange oil and primer from Home Depot; robin’s-egg-blue  enamel from Artist and Craftsman Supply

Recommended starting bid: $15

WINNING BID: $167

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 KEVIN chair

Found:Atlantic Ave between Bond and Nevins Sts, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn; Oct 1 at 8pm

One slat was missing on this teak chair and the others were loose. We fixed the flimsy slats with finishing nails and wedged a piece of clear Lucite into the empty space.

Materials:Custom-cut Lucite from Fantasy Plastic Center; nails and hammer from Home Depot

Recommended starting bid: $45

WINNING BID: $213

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 DERRICK table

Found: Ave A at 7th St, Oct 2 at 1pm

This great Italian table base was abandoned on the sidewalk without its top—and provided a great lesson on how to shine chrome to a mirror finish with steel wool, which also removes any pitting. We then bought a classic white Saarinen-style tabletop and screwed it to the base.

Materials: Steel wool from Tony’s Hardware; formica top from the Saturday flea market at the corner of Avenue A and 11th Street

Recommended starting bid: $55

WINNING BID: $155

Found: Ave B at 3rd St, Sept 27 at 7am

We wanted to make this couch, which was missing two of its front legs, more modern looking; we added “chrome” legs, which gives a bland sofa a sleek Studio 54 VIP-room look. The legs were formed from 2' x 2' lumber and wrapped with adhesive silver paper.

Materials: Wood blocks and threaded rod from Home Depot; silver paper from Kate’s Paperie (katespaperie.com)

Recommended starting bid: $50

WINNING BID: $105

Found: Gramercy Park East between 21st and 22nd Sts, Sept 29 at 8:15am

The drawers stuck and the paint was crocodiling on this piece. We taped off half of it and applied orange-scented paint stripper, then used a white semigloss on the left side and added a Roy Lichtenstein riff.

Materials: Orange-scented paint stripper and white latex paint from Home Depot (homedepot.com); black and red paints from Artist and Craftsman Supply (761 Metropolitan Ave at Graham Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-782-7765)

Recommended starting bid: $50

WINNING BID: $555

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 EVANGELINE lamp

Found: E 56th St between Second and Third Aves, Oct 1 at 2:30pm

We saw these milk cartons near a Dumpster. After cleaning them, we made a box with nine holes in it. Using round lamp cord, we made nine lights, each covered with a carton. The fixture is meant to be hung from a tall ceiling, with the cartons falling to just above the floor.

Materials: Lamp cord, sockets, chain, wood and plug from Lowe’s

Recommended starting bid: $40

WINNING BID: $154