The Chairs Redo

I hated my kitchen table and chairs.  They were a garage sale find from my husband’s bachelor days, and I honestly couldn’t wait to have some money to buy a new table set.  

Because food to put on the table is more sensible than a beautiful table with starving grad-students, I figured that I would just deal with what I’ve got. They were a wooden Windsor dining chair, the early-American kind you can find anywhere for about $50 / chair.

I stumbled across these chairs at ApartmentTherapy.com, and if you check out the prices you might fall out of that ugly chair: $615 at http://oandgstudio.com/! They make the old and outdated so bright and inviting. 

I knew what had to be done: paint!

My first instinct was to paint it that pretty cobalt blue from my office, but I chose to actually coordinate the two rooms that are next to each other.  My living room (although it is NOT finished) has African colors and pieces from my multiple trips to Africa. It is very earthy and warm, and the stark contrast of the blue might be nice, but my kitchen is bright reds and yellows, so the small space would look like Skittles exploded.  No bueno.

I initially chose a “rust” color in my head, the red/orange color you think of when you see an African sunset as it would coordinate with both rooms that it met with. I set off to all spray paint stores that I knew of in the area to find it; however, 2 hours and 3 stores later, I gave up on the ‘rust’ color and decided to go with something more practical. In the moment during a huff of frustration I chose bright orange. I thought it would work because the antequated style and modern color would make it awesome, rather than just weird. 

Here are the steps I took to make the chairs awesome:

1.     Clean to get any grime off of chair

2.     Used medium grade sander to remove finish

3.     Clean again to remove dust from sanding

4.     Prime! I used the low VOC one so that I could do it while watching a movie

5.     Used fine grade sander to even finish out

6.     Clean again to remove dust from sanding

7.     Spray paint!

8.     Repeat steps 5 & 6

9.     I applied a second coat of paint to make it look awesome

Here are the chairs at the table!  Now I love it.  I feel so chic.  What do you think?

Happy Painting! 

Love,

The Lewis Dots

Yes, my cat Jazz did want to be involved, so he got into the primer, see the white stuff on his bum? So I allowed him to be in the final shot.