Believe it or not, I'm still not done unpacking/organizing things (one more day in the office/studio should do it...hurray for that!) but my projects can't wait until everything is in perfect order because my poor husband is getting very weary of a garage full of bargain Craigslist finds that need some TLC and a facelift before being brought into our house! It snowed again today, and both our vehicles are covered in icy slush that will undoubtedly be frozen solid by tomorrow morning...not a happy scenario for my garage-deprived husband or our cars!
Sooo, here is the first of (too) many projects that I'm just about done with. These dining room chairs started out like this:
(actually they had already been sanded with an orbital sander at this point to take the sheen off the existing paint so the new paint would adhere better)
You can see the original (very 80's) upholstery that "graced" the cushions.
Then, several weeks ago, I took advantage of an unseasonably warm day to spray paint all of them red. I like to use spray paint for the underlying layer because 1) it's faster, although messier and 2) the ultra thin layer, which doesn't hide as many flaws and funky grain patterns/dents/blemishes as brushed-on paint does, is irrelevant because I do another layer on top.
If I were to try to spray paint these chairs using the spray paint as the final layer, I would end up using a TON of paint because I would have to spray at least 3 layers of paint for sufficient coverage. If you get impatient and try to load it on in a thick layer, you just end up with a lot of ugly drips on your project. As it was, I used a full can of paint per chair, and at $4 a can for the good kind of spray paint, that adds up.
Anyway, after the red paint was fully cured (several days), I took a white candle and rubbed along most of the edges here and there, with a few strokes of the candle across the flat surfaces of the wood where normal wear and tear would typically appear on an aged piece of furniture.
The wax acts as a resist agent for the topcoat paint layer. I used a quart of Krylon Color Creations Acrylic Latex Enamel in Satin Black (a humbly priced Walmart product that works GREAT!) because it is designed for use on anything from metal to concrete to craft foam, and is an indoor/outdoor paint....in other words, it's tough stuff! On indoor walls I love to use Behr paint products because the paint is so rich and creamy yet dries quickly. On furniture, however, I have found that a thick-bodied paint is not my friend = too easy to get all globby and messy looking in the details of the piece. This Krylon product is thinner, brushes on well (but watch for those drips!) and has a nice finish. The only downside is that it is only available in a very limited (like 5 or 6) palette of colors. But if you want to do a basic color then this is the way to go!
So after I painted 2 coats of black paint over the red, one coat right after the other as soon as it was dry to the touch, I waited about 30 minutes and then took a dry rag and rubbed away the black paint wherever I had put the wax. The nice thing about this brand of black paint is that it is tough enough to adhere even to some of the wax, so you don't get any really obvious lines of red showing through. I discovered that if I waited too long to scrub the black paint off, it became very difficult to do and destroyed some of the lovely satin sheen of the paint. The final step before screwing the seat cushions back on will be to rub a layer of Johnson's Paste Wax over the chairs and buff it to a nice even sheen. This will prevent any more black from sloughing off and will create a more uniform looking finish.
ps. When you paint chairs, start with the chair upside down, painting all the undersides and insides of the rungs first. Then you can turn the chair over and paint the rest without having to turn the chair over later and risk messing up the new paint you just painted on the main part of the chair.
Here is another future project: I bought two accent chairs (go CL, go!) for our very vacant front room, and will be painting them black and recovering the cushions. The chairs have great lines, they're just extremely anemic at the moment...
...and here's another CL bargain that has seen better days. The construction is great, it just needs some repair and, once I paint it a distressed antique white, it will be a lovely girly dresser for Hazel's room! Not a bad $30 investment, eh?
I have 5 or 6 other projects awaiting my attention (and hogging our garage floor space) that I don't have pictures of yet, so stay tuned for more fun furniture posts!
What a transformation on the chairs! Beautiful!
Posted by: Wendy | March 01, 2009 at 10:16 PM
wow, those are CUTE!
Posted by: Hilary | March 02, 2009 at 09:05 AM
The chairs are awesome! Please don't paint the dresser for your daughter. Someone later on will have to strip it and that will be a lot of work. It is beautiful as-is....
Posted by: Marianne | March 02, 2009 at 11:09 AM
What an informative post! I LOVE THE RESULT! I am totally going to have to give this a try this summer. SO gorgeous!
Posted by: Missy | March 02, 2009 at 11:57 AM
Wowww, love the idea of layers of paint colors and your blog name, lol... Fun! And the chairs are gorgeous! Love them all! Nice idea to mix the patterns of the fabrics!
Posted by: celia | March 02, 2009 at 02:02 PM
The chairs turned out beautifully. I can't wait to see the finished other chairs and dresser. Great job!
Posted by: Pam | March 04, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Craigslist and Freecycle in DC are amazing. Its fun to see what you've found so quickly. The chairs are divine. I love the red undertones!
Posted by: Peggy | March 05, 2009 at 03:53 PM