Join me for a Vintage Chair Makeover! Learn how to makeover a vintage chair with minimal work. A little paint can add a lot of character!
We’ve been in our house for almost two years now. I can’t even count the amount of times we’ve rearranged the furniture. I mean, we’re talking more times than I’ve seen all the Friends episodes…and that’s A LOT! The reason is mainly because the living room opens into our dining room and it’s a small space. I really want to create a look with two separate areas. Anyway, we finally settled on a perfect spot for our furniture. I was thrilled! Just one thing was missing, a second accent chair. You can’t just have one chair facing the couch, you have to have two!
I looked around a little at some of my favorite stores but just couldn’t think about spending that much money right now. In fact, I couldn’t spend more than like $20. Craigslist, here I come! Craigslist cracks me up! People try to sell the funniest stuff. I mean, come on people, nobody wants that!! Anyway, I looked for about a week and finally found this Colonial style chair for $15 and it was only 5 miles away which was a major bonus.
There was something about it that I loved. Was it the color? Was it the style? Was it the price tag? I’m not really sure, but I brought it home and put it in it’s place. It sat there for a day and I knew I had to do a little something to it. It was definitely old and needed a little something extra. I didn’t want to paint the whole thing because I was worried about two things. One-losing the look of the chair and Two-I have nightmares from brush painting a bench with spindles. Serious nightmares! So I thought, how could I dress up the chair a bit without making it stressful and annoying?! This is what I came up with, and I LOVE it!
It’s so simple! You should try it with an old chair you have in your garage or score one for super cheap on Craigslist.
You’ll need:
-A chair
-Paint brush
-Painter’s tape
-Paint (Semi gloss is best for furniture, I think, easier to wipe off) I used Behr Gladiator Gray in a semi-gloss.
-Sand paper (I used a medium)
Let’s get started!
- Prep/Clean your chair. I just wiped it down with a clean slightly soapy cloth.
- Sand the area you’ll be painting. Wipe it down really well after sanding.
- Tape off any areas you need to. If you’re working with spindles, you may need to use multiple small pieces of tape to really get a clean line around. See picture.
- Now it’s time to paint. Yay! I did have to use a smaller brush around the spindles but used a larger brush for the main seat. Let each coat thoroughly dry before doing another coat.
- I did three coats on my seat. You’ll also notice that I didn’t fill in the cracks with putty. I just didn’t want to.
- Wait until your final coat dries and remove the tape.
I decided not to go over the paint with a clear wax or anything because the chair is already “vintage” and I really don’t care if the paint gets a little wear and tear after a while. I went over the parts that I didn’t paint with my homemade furniture polish and shined it up a bit.
Here’s the recipe:
What I love about this chair is that the work was minimal, I used what I had on hand, and it looks great! I love the look of keeping some of the chair original but giving it a little life with color. The possibilities are endless with this. I have an old desk that I think would look awesome this way. Keep the legs original and paint the desk part…ahhh! I can’t wait to do this again!
I think it looks perfect in it’s new home! What do you think? Our home has an eclectic feel that makes it very easy to add any style furniture. If you like the Box Shelves, Floating Plant Shelf, or Decorative Ladder you see, check them out too!
I hope you enjoyed being here today and learned something that you didn’t already know. Pin the photo below to your favorite DIY board for quick access to these tips. Have a great day and happy DIYing!
