mrs.micki, I personally use a med to fine grade sandpaper. All you really need to do is scuff the surface. I use Kilz primer on almost anything I paint as it helps to hold the paint a lot better and keeps any imperfections from bleeding through, such as the knots on your desk. I also use a roller to paint as I like the texture it leaves. My hubby prefers to use a brush as he likes a more smooth finish. So it depends on what look you're after... and who is painting! Paint is very forgiving. If you don't like it, you can re-paint it. I have an old dresser that has been painted every color of the rainbow. The latest color is white. Good luck, and be sure to take a picture to show everyone. Debbie in Florida

hi caroline! i just saw your note on my blog. i didn't respond earlier because ours chairs are very different and when i first saw this posting, i was still nervous with my chair guts all over the floor. :) your chairs are beautiful, and i know nothing! i've done one upholstery job in my life, so please take that into account! the right way to do it would be to add that jute webbing stuff and sadly I know nothing about that type of upholstery work! since you said it's comfy with a blanket rolled up, here's what i'm thinking... our springs do look very similar, but my chair has sides that cover up all the craziness inside. on top of my springs i have a thick layer of dacron batting stapled to the lower part of the frame around the outside. then on top of that it's just thin drapery lining fabric - (it was closest to the fabric cutting counter and i was in a huge hurry!) i stitched that drapery lining fabric (solid white) to the patterned fabric that gets stapled to the footboard on the front. then i pulled the drapery lining under the arms and stapled to the sides of the frame. that all gets covered up by the fabric on the arms. and i have a box cushion on top of all that. so the construction of my upholstery doesn't work for you exactly, but you could probably adapt it if you're willing to try putting staples in those beautiful frames... my chair was a $20 goodwill special! IF you really wanted to do it somewhat permanently... here's a diagram to help explain what i'm about to say: i would try a thick layer of dacron batting cut a little wider than the frame of the chair to wrap around the top of the seat frame. i'd staple on each side JUST below the top of the frames along all 4 sides. (blue marks where i'd staple this layer) then i'd put another layer of that thick batting cut to the inside size of the frame and i'd just lay it on top of the first layer and not staple it anywhere. that'll give you a little extra padding just on the "seat" area. then i'd lay some muslin cut to just larger than the frame and staple all around just below where you stapled the batting. (yellow marks where i'd staple this layer) trim off all the excess fabric. then i'd lay your fabric of choice, staple it at the very bottom of the frame all the way around. (red marks where i'd staple) cover the staples with double welt or buy a coordinating trim or nailhead, but nail head trim has challenges of its own too! haha making the double welt SUCKS because i'm no good with a sewing machine, but it really does finish the project nicely. here's a pic of the stage of my chair where i had just the batting on top of the springs... here's after adding the white drapery lining fabric over the batting... an alternative is to ignore the springs that are there, and have a piece of wood cut to fit the top of the wood frame, then just add some batting and fabric, staple to the bottom of that board and set your board on your frame. you could screw in from the bottom if you wanted it attached permanently. i'm not sure if this helps or confuses you more, but i wish you lots of luck. the chair frames are so pretty!

Kate, Julia, and Nancy, they are often mistaken for snakes. Maryl, this variety does not have communal nurseries and 10 eggs is the usual number they have.. Mantis, hopefully your Japanese beetles will go the coarse ours have. I saw only two this year. The birds know thwy are food.Brad, we have blue tails too. they are smaller here than this one. Thank you all for looking and commenting. kay

We have the Brown Recluse Spider too. I need to clean out my closet but will wait until hard winter so that hopefully all the spiders of any sort are dead before I move things on the floor......I'm usually nature friendly but after reading about Black Widows and seeing some videos of the damage they do to people, I decided to send this creepy crawly to spider heaven..........Kate: Snakes aren't my favorite either. We see these snakes more then we care to, often in the saucers under the pots where it's moist. They are rather scary as they lash out at you and hiss. But we leave them alone as they are non venomous. Texas Brown Snake (in a saucer): Maryl