Redoing Dining Chairs for Miraim ~ Gizmo Tech Support

Last year at this time I had been regaling you guys with tales of my niece's dining room.

You can check out that story here. here. and here.

Miriam and I had found 8 chairs for her dining room.

EIGHT!!!!!

ARMCHAIRS!!!!!

And I may have told her last year.....

that I would glue, paint, reupholster and sew pillows for

ALL

of them.....

Welllllll.......

So far I've done 4 of them.

This is not my fault....

no, no, no.....

Miriam is supposed to bring the undone four and exchange them with the ones I've

brilliantly

finished.

Here is a shot of one of the finished chairs....

But while I wait for her to bring the other 4!!!!!

I will now show off what I've already done!!!!!

We started with this.....

Don't they look nice????

Well they weren't!!!!

They were in horrible condition.

They were some of the most uncomfortable chairs

in the universe!!!!!

They had probably come from some school or business, because the way they were glued together in repairs was something baaaadddddd.

They had rounded plugs to cover the holes for the screws, which is a really tacky detail, according to Betsy.....

They're easier to install, because you don't have to worry about the face of the plug lining up with the chair frame.

So, I popped them out, and replaced them with flat ones that I sanded down....

Now they're ready for the paint!!!!

Milk paint to the rescue!!!!!

I used Miss Mustard Seeds new line of milk paint in Lucketts Green.

They took two coats, and then I added some details.

The one on the right had some cream chalk paint detailing.

I painted the edge of the top bar, the circle and the grooved lines.

On the back I added a circle outline by dipping a bottle cap in the paint.....

On the back of the top rail I wanted to paint numbers.

I couldn't find any stencils that I liked, so I used the Graphic Fairy's numbers that I printed out and traced.

But I still needed a No. and I couldn't find one, so I made one up, drew it out.....

So, then I tried to make my own stencil......

Well, that was a big fat failure.....

So I went and got me some of that white school house chalk and scrubbed the back of the drawing and traced it onto the chair.

Then I had to go and get me one of those there #2 liner brushes that I've been reading about.

BOY!!!!

The right tool really makes a difference.

So I hand painted the #$% numbers on the back of the chairs.

What a pain the the @$$!!!!!

And there are 8 of them.....

NOW AT THIS POINT

I LEARNED ABOUT A STENCIL COMPANY

THAT HAD JUST WHAT I NEEDED!!!!!!!

It's called Maison de Stencils!!!!!

Well.....

Needless to say I have now bought a lot of stencils from them.

Warning!!!!!

They are not cheap, but I like to spend my money on this kind of stuff.

Who needs diamonds when you can buy stencils???

So for the next four chairs, still to be done.....

I am going to paint them in cream chalk paint with Lucketts Green for the detailing, and use my new stencils.

I like it when all the chairs don't match.

YES I DO!!!!!

THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE!!!!!

Anyway,

back to the chairs.....

I was interested to see how the milk paint would chip on the chairs.

When I used it on my dining table it didn't chip at all, so I had to help it along.

One these chairs it chipped too much, so I bought some bonding agent from Miss Mustard Seed and touched up the places that I felt were too distressed.

The picture above is what it looked like when it first started chipping.

It just went a little too far.....

The pictures below is how I got it to look when I was done.

Then I stripped the old fabric and padding off the old seats and added new 2" medium density foam, covered that in dacron and then put the new fabric on.

We used the fabric that matches the walls and draperies.

So here it is all painted with it's new seat.....

I like the way the milk paint looks....

Just a nice cottagey beat up look.....

But these chairs were still not very comfortable.

The backs just were not well designed for the human body.

So Miriam and I went back out to Calico Corners to look for fabric for the back pillows.

We didn't bring a chair with us, 'cuz that would have been too smart......

I thought that I could do it without a chair.

I am an idiot.

So we brought back several samples to try out.

I was looking for something in a green ticking stripe or check.

I WAS WRONG!!!!!

When we got back to my house and saw the fabrics on the chair, I realized what I really needed was a blue to match the background color of the main fabric.

Calico Corners was closing at 5:00.

It was now 4:00.

Calico Corners was a good 35 minutes away!!!!!!

Sooooooo.......

Miriam and I went flying back out there.

Then it was like being on Project Runway at Mood.

We were given 20 minutes to find a blue that would work and buy it......

(Actually, the ladies who worked there were very sweet, and stayed open an extra 15 minutes for us, 'cuz we was freekin' out!!!!!

Well, we found the perfect fabric!!!!!

So, here's a picture of the chair with the new blue pillow on the back!!!!!