The Neverending Refinishing of a Folding Rocking Chair

This is the story of a chair.  Specifically, this is the story of a really cute folding rocking chair that I found on craigslist in 2009.  In fact, I even posted a picture of this chair on this very blog.  I'm not sure why, but this chair has been the elephant in the room for me.  I pull it out and work on it every few months but it always gets folded up and put back in a corner behind a door and I completely forget about it for another 4 months.  Well this is it!  I am determined to finish this project before the summer.  So mark my words, friends... This chair will be for sale by July!   Here's the progress so far:

The chair before!  It was cute, but the caning was missing from the seat and fraying around the top of the back.  It was itching for a full overhaul:

The chair now!  It's been painting a flat grey and the groove around the seat that the caning originally wove into has been chiseled out:

Obviously it's not finished.  But it's closer.  I need to cut out a wooden panel to fit in the recessed seat and FINALLY decide on a piece of fabric to upholster it in.  The back is a different story.  I'm considering weaving a series of pieces of cording through it, but I'm not sure how comfortable that will be so I may just upholster it with fabric as well.  And then I have a couple of silver leaf embellishments in mind. 

But no matter what, it will be done by July!  Mark my words, world.  JULY!!!!