Housing Works auction items: page 3

 BECK shell chair

Found: E 26th St between Second and Third Aves, Sept 25 at 6:30am

We cleaned this dirty chair’s legs with steel wool, applied a rusty-metal primer, then painted them with white enamel. Then we vacuumed the upholstery and painted a traditional blue willow scene with acrylic, a nice contrast to the Eames design.

Materials: Kilz primer and steel wool from Home Depot (for store locations, go to homedepot.com). Enamel (for the legs) and acrylic paints from Artist and Craftsman Supply

Recommended starting bid: $125

WINNING BID: $813

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 VERNON tube light

Found: Bleecker St at Bowery, Oct 2 at 8:15am

Nothing but some drier-vent hose: dirty, coming apart and covered in lint. We washed the tube in the shower with soap and a sponge, then hot-glued it together to look like one of those David Salle worm shapes from his early-’90s paintings.

Materials: Hot glue gun from Duane Reade; energy-efficient bulb from Home Depot

Recommended starting bid: $15

WINNING BID: $31

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 HUGO loveseat

Found: Bergen St at Bond St, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn; Sept 22 at 7:15pm

A black bike rack had been unscrewed and discarded. At first we wanted to bolt sheepskin-covered saddle seats to the top of each arc to make stools, but then we decided to maintain the integrity of the ribbon shape, and it became a Pantonesque love seat.

Materials: Glue gun from Home Depot; sheepskin bedspread cover from a garage sale (we could have also used a shaggy bath mat)

Recommended starting bid: $110

Item did not sell

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 TRISTAN speakers

Found: Mott St at Houston St, Oct 1 at 3:15pm

An ugly wood grain and tattered covers marred this pair of working speakers. We wrapped contact paper around the wood and spray-painted the front white, after taping off the important parts with blue painter’s tape.

Materials: Contact paper, white spray paint and painter’s tape from Pintchik Hardware (718-783-3333) in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.

Recommended starting bid: $60

WINNING BID: $60

Found: E 9th St at Third Ave, Sept 27 at 3:15pm

The clear Plexiglas was smothered in a rainbow of oil paints, so we turned it over and placed it in a faux-antique filigreed wood frame, made from new molding strips brushed with dark walnut stain, then gold paint.

Materials: Gold paint and walnut stain from Metropolitan Lumber and Hardware in Soho (212-966-9750); molding, mitre box and saw kit from Home Depot.

Recommended starting bid: $35

WINNING BID: $49

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 KAREN plastic cornucopia

Found: Atlantic Ave at Bond St, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn; Sept 30 at 8:15am

This was a mold for an ice sculpture, and it was dirty and abandoned. We washed it out with Joy dish soap, then cut a hole and threaded a light cord (attached to a 25-watt bulb) though the bottom.

Materials: Dish soap from Rite Aid (riteaid.com); light cord from Home Depot

Recommended starting bid: $15

WINNING BID: $50

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 LOUIS barstool

Found: Canal St at Broadway, Sept 30 at 2:03am

This was a simple one. The stool had a cracked bottom rung, so we squirted wood glue in the crack, clamped it and let it dry for 24 hours.

Materials: Wood glue and clamp from Lowes.

Recommended starting bid: $10

WINNING BID: $10

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 DAPHNE brass light

Found: Lexington Ave between 130th and 131st Sts, Oct 2 at 10:30am

The brass on this fixture was tarnished and pitted, and the base was coming undone. We polished the brass with steel wool and nail polish with acetone, then glued the brass strip back into place with metal epoxy.

Materials: Nail polish remover (with acetone) from Rite Aid; Loc-Tite metal epoxy from Home Depot

Recommended starting bid: $15

WINNING BID: $36