"Don't worry ....honey , TRUST me it will look cute when I am done......" of course my husband thought I had totally lost my mind! Really you paid how much for for that chair? I wouldn't have given them 2 cents for it! MEN..they just don't get it........
I had my vision and when I saw this old chair at a yard sale I haggled a bit (they wanted $25) and got it for $15. I have been checking out a few blogs about refinishing old furniture, and well...thought I would give it a try, after all it didn't cost much and I have alot of paint on hand so...why not?
The bones where good, love the cane and in perfect shape too! I just needed to paint it and replace the gold velvet cushions.
I striped off all the fabric and took off the bottom seat, leaving just the wood chair. I did sand it a bit because it had some dents and scratches that were deeper than I wanted.
Next I spayed it with Kills white primer all over.
Then two coats of creamy white paint. I got one of those sample paints at Lowes for $1.25..PERFECT!
Next I did a little distressing with a sanding block, they are the best.......
Now the fun part, also the messy part....I used Minwax stain to age the finish. First you wipe it on with a rag, then you quickly wipe it off with a clean dry rag. It gets into all the nooks and crannies and gives it an aged look...don't forget to wear gloves during this process ( I learned that by trial and error)unless you want to ruin your manicure...
I love how the stain makes all the details in the chair show .
Moving on to recovering the cushion and adding the back to the chair. The fabric I used was left over drop cloth scraps from another project. These are great...you can purchase them at Lowes or Home Depot and they are packaged in different sizes. The one I got was a larger one , I can't remember the size but I am thinking it was something like 9 x 12 and I paid $8.99 or something like that, anyway cheap and you get alot of fabric. I washed it because it is very stiff when you get it and by washing it you end up with this beautiful nubby fabric. I first cut a piece to cover the seat bottom and foam (the most expensive thing I had to buy was this foam) Then I pulled the fabric over the foam and chair bottom and stapled it all around...done.
The back was a bit harder to do as I had to make a front and back panel. The back was easy just cut and staple, but when doing the front part I had to add some foam backing and try to hold it in place while stapling it tight...OK so I need three hands...HONEY....can you come help me? Got it, now how do I want to cover the staples????? I did not want to go buy anything so I looked around to see what do I have that I could use...I need some trim, Hey I can make a ruffle out of the rest of the fabric! Yeah!!!! I love how this came out, I pleated and glued with a glue gun as I went around the back of the chair.
I added a ruffled skirt to the front of the bottom seat also to finish ....WOW..I think it came out really cute, perfect for my guest room redo..which is almost done.
I made a small pillow out of left over fabric and added this jute webbing and vintage red buttons for some added color. This is also the color scheme of my guest room. I think it gives a little pop of color.
All in all not bad for my first attempt at a project like this...but best of all my hubby LOVED IT TOO! He was so proud of me !
Sandy Narravo will be joining us from so cal also...and my Friend Barb Solem who Karen and I met in Oregon at Terri Brushes Art camp....(so sorry Marianne won't be with us this trip) also Karen Valentine from AZ, Diane Cook from Texas and Rita the Redhead...can't wait to met all these crazy ladies! 
