Curbside Rescue

I've often seen really cool things just tossed out on the curb, but I've rarely rescued any of them...and have often regretted it! Well, this weekend my husband and I were only a block from our house when we spotted two old weathered brass standing lamps and a mid century chair from a distance. He said, "would you like a couple lamps" and I said "yes, PLEASE, and the chair too!" So we pulled over...with a couple on the other side of the street watching (my husband later told me that they were giving him dirty looks and pointing. He believes this is because they were headed over to snag them) and loaded our free new found treasures into our trunk. We drive a small convertible so picking things up is not easy. Thank goodness we were so close to home. However, our street is on the side of a mountain and practically vertical so my husband had to back the car up the block so the chair and lamps wouldn't come tumbling out of the trunk. Enough back story already...here are my rescues...
I mentioned before that I scored a mid century sofa on craigslist, well this chair goes perfectly with it. It's in excellent condition. My first thought was to paint the wood, maybe black, but my second thought (preferred) was to just give it a good sanding and either apply a nice stain or just tung oil it. Of course I'll reupholster it. I only have minimal experience with reupholstering furniture and this has piping which is always tricky for me, but I'm going to give it a go. I can't wait to find the perfect fabric!


There are actually two of these solid brass lamps. The other is in need of a minor repair (nothing super glue can't handle) and they both need to be wired, need new harps and new shades but I think the shape is cool. However, I'm not big on brass so I'm going to paint them. Any ideas for color?