the aztec or tapa suite

This suite was one of the first we got, and was attacked enthusiastically!

It was purchased from the outskirts of Hamilton and so presented to opportunity for a road trip. As a bonus, we spent a relaxed half-hour opposite the seller's house watching a model aircraft do an aerobatic display just for us.

The suite had been advertised as being valued at over $600. We paid significantly less than that, and a good thing too. It was in a pretty bad way cosmetically, but as is typical of these designs, the bones were good.

Back home, we stripped the chairs completely threw away the cushions, and sanded. And sanded. Then we thought, stuff-it, paint stripper. Then we sanded some more.

Sick of sanding, we smoothed everything off and applied a whole lot of Cabots urethane. The chairs looked stunning.

Around this time, we found some fabric on Trade Me and Jos got stuck in to the upholstery side. Wildly overconfident, she went with a piped seam to the boxed seat and back cushions. 12 metres of fabric ended up giving its all to the cause. They looked great.

Then we turned our attention to the sofa, and decided that the folding part was fine, but the base frame needed the treatment. So we sanded some more. And urethaned.

We were well pleased with the result and put it all up on Trade Me feeling real good about it. The chairs and sofa were photographed separately and images posted. Anyone spot our first mistake?

A buyer asked for some more images and it was only then that we put the chairs and sofa together in the same light. The frames looked very different - two unmatched shades of timber. On closer inspection, it turned out we had not completely cleaned up the arms of the chairs, and this was the cause of the mis-match.

Since then, we have (you guessed it) sanded some more. A slightly tinted Cabots urethane has brought the chairs and the sofa into a match and we finally have a product we are happy to sell.