Thursday, June 24, 2010

MY FIRST CHAIR REDO!

While over at A DAY IN THE LIFE OF DOLLFACE - she posted about a blog called BETTER AFTER, it's all about awesome before and after pics of stuff people have re-done to look awesome. I can tell you I have been hooked at looking at this blog! I can't stop! I was so inspired I decided to tackle my own chair redo.

I got the chair and the desk at a garage sale many years ago for I believe around $30-$40 bucks. I have the desk in storage right now, but plan on painting it to match the chair soon. The chair has been in my son's room for him to use at his desk.




As you can see the white material of the chair has gotten worn and dirty. If you look closely I think I even see a little hunk of orange Cheeto on the seat, lol. Most of my wood furniture is black so I decided on painting the chair a glossy black. I really wanted it to look really glossy when I got done. And I picked out a muted turquoise blue and gray material to recover the seat with. My after pics aren't the best, I just took them this morning and I don't think there was enough light yet to get more color accurate pics. And when I used the flash, well you can see how it just bounced off the glossy paint. But you get the idea anyway!





I'm just so pleased with myself, not only for how easy it was but how quick and cheap it was to do. I paid $6 for the material (30% sale at Hobby Lobby!) and the spray paint was $5, I already had a can of Kilz primer so I used that. I went and bought the stuff last night and was done in like 2 hours. Of course I let the chair dry overnight, but it was basically done that quick.


A few weeks ago, me and mom tackled a piano bench. I told her I was looking for a little table to have outside and she found this piano bench at a junk store for only $5. We thought perfect, since the seat opens up I could store my grill utensils in there.

Here it is before:




And here it is after:




This project took us a full weekend, but there were more coats of paint involved in this because of the crackle look I wanted. The cost was a little bit more expensive too, but I have lots of leftover paint to use on future projects. The paint was specially mixed to match OU Sooner Football's colors of crimson and cream. I also left the inside of the lid cream and plan on adding some sort of OU Sooners something to it, but I haven't found just the perfect thing yet. All in all though, I'm really pleased with my new bench!


Here is a glimpse of my next project I have in the works. These country style chicken and rooster are getting a makeover! They aren't done yet, I'm putting a black glaze over them, a technique I saw on Better After that I have been itching to try!!



P.S. If you wanna check out Dollface's awesome before and after pics of her house CLICK HERE!

12 comments:

  1. That blog is addicting, right?? HaHa you're welcome!! Just add it to the long list of things to obsess about! I'll never look at Garage Sales the same way again!! The black chair looks incredible. I'm also on the hunt for a couple of great chairs like that. The bench is adorable too. Can't wait to see the roosters all finished!!

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  2. They all look great :) I'm obsessed with that blog too! I really want to find an old desk somewhere and turn it into a polish station!!

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  3. wow - you are skilled all around. I recently discovered decorating blogs and am immersed in reading about all the things people redo- as well as blogs dedicated to flea market and garage sale finds..... here's my other blog;

    potatoez&pineconez

    http://crafty-chick.blogspot.com/


    hope everything is working out with your car!

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  4. I really appreciate this post because I love going to flea markets oh heck finding things on other peoples trash and redoing them. Love the crackle paint. Do you like victorian, shabby chic style?

    I have to check out that blog ^_^

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  5. Wow! We have the chairs just like that (in regards to your first photo). Those chairs, we had them for more than 10 years!

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  7. Those look great!! You chose a great color for the material - love it! My parents had chairs very similar to that that they re-covered. That bench is so cute with the crackle finish!

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  8. They're fab! Can't believe how different they look after their makeover. The chair looks amazing.

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  9. Can't wait to see the chickens when they're done.

    I went over to Better After and now I'm hooked!

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  10. I'm so proud of you! Great job. I didn't know about that blog. I'll be checking it out. I really admire anyone who can do those sort of things. Love the crackle finish on the piano bench. I had a chair something like yours that my Mother did when I was a teenager. I was done with an antiqued green finish. She picked out the material and my Father did the recovering. That was my desk chair.

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  11. Oh Brooke that chair turned out beautifully! It makes me want to get back into furniture!

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