Sweet Seats: Three Shabby Chairs Get Glammed, Part 1

When one at a time our families came over, we began noticing we didn't have enough chairs. Then, on New Years Eve, when everyone came together, it was painfully obvious.

Time for a chair chase! Little did I know how much work I was in for...

I went to a great thrift store nearby that exists to offer jobs to special needs adults. They always have the most amazing stuff, and the staff is wonderful.

The last one of a set, this chair was reduced to $14.99, so I snapped it up. It was loose and rickety...but a few nails should remedy that, right? WRONG.

You can't nail a chair together. It has to be glued.

So, I stopped there. You see, the beauty of chalk paint is no prep. This was going to be a lot of prep. Not what I bargained for...well, maybe. But, I plead inexperience!

Then like, a week later, I thought. OK. Let's do this.

I took it completely apart, sanded the joints to remove old paint and glue. (NOTE: label each of the joints by number with masking tape before taking it apart or you will be sorry!)

I discovered that what I had thought was some hybrid of baby food and 70s olive-mustard was really just a worn out gold. Too bad, so sad. 

Then I painted the frame with the same homemade off-white chalk paint (aka plaster paint) as before. Distressed w/220 grit; finished with wax.

I had to reconstruct the upper right top because it had been damaged somewhere long ago. I used a vinyl spackle and sanded it down lightly after it dried, to match the other side. You can't even tell! Shocked, this one was.

I wanted to stain the seat, so I stripped it (YUCK what a MESS) and sanded it until it shone...and under all that was a beautiful maple with excellent grain flow and just tons of exquisite pink tones. Who would paint such a gorgeous chair!?

And then I stained it. LoL

A few coats of wipe-on poly, a few shots with the nail gun to attach the seat, and voila! Gorgeous, solid, sound, hardwood chair.

Things I learned from this project:

1. Stripping is a monster. I used a spray-on stripper. Next time (if there is one...) trying Citrustrip, as recommended by 5 out of 6 furniture bloggers. ;)
2. Only buy sound, solid furniture. Rickety, shaky stuff is only worth the discount if it's really really beautiful and really really cheap...which it so happens this turned out to be. *Phew!*
3. Chairs are tough. They have tons of crevices, corners, angles, and surfaces. They take a long time. You will think of them as your children by the time it's done. Undertake only in times of necessity.
4. Inspect all surfaces. What may look nice and smooth from 2-3 feet away may be hiding very rough edges you have to sand a lot. Not a deal-breaker, but definitely a note-to-self.

The Bookshelf: Refinishing Old Memories with Chalk Paint

My first attempt at using chalk paint. Good memories with this bookshelf that's almost as old as memory itself for my sisters and me...

From the way it sat in our childhood bedroom to its new form today using 

homemade chalk/plaster paint and Johnson's soft wax, I give you, The Bookshelf.

I used a plaster-of-Paris base with S.W. tester quart of an off-white I liked. 

After paint, before stain. I learned the hard way that I really should have done it the other way around:

~~ Chalk paint goes over anything. Stain does not. ~~

It would have saved me hours! Because, I also learned, blue tape doesn't work very well to keep prevent stain leakage - or any leakage, for that matter - unless you're willing to spend a very long time pressing down every millimeter of the edge. Which is not possible in dark, tight corners. I would have been better off to stain the shelves first, and paint over anything "outside the lines" with my miracle paint. Oh well. Lessons learned! 

*    *    *

For the shelves, I wanted to use stain from my own walnut trees, but it would have been water-based and raised the grain (which meant lots of waiting and sanding…), so I went with a Minwax oil-based instead. (I've since switched to a new gel stain though, and it was love at first rub.)

What I didn't know when I took this picture was that the stain had seeped under the blue tape...so, this is about 4 steps from the end instead of the 1 it should have been.

Also, you can't see that it fell over in a wind storm one day and the back got cracked, adding another 3 steps before the end. Thanks to my patient husband who benevolently looked on while my project dominated the back porch with nary a word of frustration or hurry.....(not!)

*   *   *

And...the final product! 

I distressed the edges using a 220 grit sandpaper. (P.S. LOVE the 220!)

  

I especially like how the chalk paint made kind of a ripple in the corner here (below) and I even left some of the stain seepage because it looked like aging.

Finally, over the painted areas I hand-rubbed on Johnson's paste wax 

(natural color; no stain added to darken).

 After the wax dried, I buffed it. The result is a super luxurious smooth, satiny finish.

Wipe-on poly did the same for the shelves.