French Chair Makeover

French Chairs go from Shabby to Tres chic!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Easter holiday weekend. We had company on Saturday and then I got to spend some good quaility family time with my daughter, hubby and son, who came home from college for the afternoon for a nice dinner and some Easter fun!

The previous week for us was Spring Break and I took the week off with my kids and family. We went hiking, had visits from my sister and cousins and all in all had a wonderfully relaxing week! So this week it was "Get back to Work" time! :) I can't really say it seems like "work" when I love it so much, but none the less, it was nice to have a few weeks off and a break. In getting back to work I started with these sweet chairs! Well, I guess they don't really look all that sweet in this before picture, but I could see what they were going to look like before I even started.

I'm sure I have said this before but I'm going to say it again...."A little paint, goes a long way"! These two chairs have been hiding out in my garage for several months just waiting for their day at the spa! I found these lovelies at a garage sale last summer for $10 each. They were certainly solid chairs but really beat up and dirty.

I knew that I would want to repaint them to give them new life, maybe even put a cushion on the seat. After I sanded them down and gave them a good cleaning with TSP solution, I decided that paint was all that it would take to make these chairs look new and fancy again. I picked a creamy white and a light grey for the seat to give it some interest. I then lightly distressed them to give them a little extra detail and decided that they were ready to go into my booth at Daisies & Olives in Prairie Grove. Here is how they turned out...

When I am painting something to sell at the antique shop, I normally stay with basic colors in order to reach more buyers for their home decor. I have found that the more neutral color palette, the better a piece sells and can easily be accented with a bright colorful or textured pillow which is sometimes better for purchasing furniture for your home. The neutral color palette that I like to use are grays, whites, creams, and black.

I like to lightly distress my furniture mostly because I love the french country look!

This last week, I also painted two custom pieces for our cousin who is expecting a baby girl in May. She had a dresser, mirror, side table and changing tray that sits on the dresser. She wanted her furniture painted white for her pink nursery.

I thought the white turned out really cute and is a perfect choice for a nursery! It was such a pleasure to do this for her! It made me reminiscent of my own children's nursery! :) Awww.....

One of the issues I ran into on this furniture was the manufactured surface. The finish on it was really glossy and slick, so it was necessary to sand it well before beginning the painting. I also used some TSP solution to de-gloss the surface after I sanded it....just in case. Even then, I was really nervous that the paint would not adhere well. After these two processes of sanding and deglossing, the piece painted great and seemed to be pretty scratch resistant......Whew! Mission accomplished! I realized I don't paint a lot of fabricated wood so I was not as sure of myself.

Pressed board and manufactured pieces can be tricky when painting even if you are painting with Chalk Paint; which is known for it's more adhesive, bonding properties. I will say I was relieved to get it done and have it work out well!

I normally look for real wood that is in fairly good shape and just needs some light sanding for scratches or that can be painted after cleaning. So if you are looking for something to paint or thinking about painting existing furniture, you may want to seriously consider the material before beginning. If it is real wood, it will probably end up being easier to paint. Otherwise, follow the steps that I did earlier and you can even use a primer like I did on the changing tray (it was an extra glossy surface). Preparing the surface is very important by either cleaning (for real hard wood surfaces) or sanding, deglossing and priming ( for those manufactured pieces with pressed board and super glossy surfaces).

This week I will be working on the office to finish one of the walls. If you haven't seen the office you can preview it from the previous post here. I want to create a wall that is dedicated to my daughter Emily's music! We took the office and created work spaces for me and her craft time too! Now, we will have a wall that will house her keyboard and tie into the office as a whole! I can't wait for you to see it!

Until next time.........

Make it a great day!