Repurposed Chairs

First impressions, as we know, are incredibly important.  Which is why my roommate/best friend is incredibly fixated on our lawn.  It has to be cut and trimmed every week or she's fretting about it.  Whereas I, the free spirited member of the household, am less bothered if the grass has a slightly wild look.  In fact, I'm very happy in a field of grass being blown by the wind.  It's a beautiful and poetic backdrop- something that unites both the writer and artist in me, two parts of my personality which are often in conflict.

But, because the outside appearance of our house is so important to my roommate, I decided I was going to make it my mission to create a warm and inviting feel when you first walk up to our house, past the newly trimmed grass that Mindy put so much sweat and work into.  Thus began my mission for the perfect chairs!

Now, I know the chair doesn't look like much right now- it belongs to an old set in my Grandma's basement, previously owned by my great Grandmother- but, with the right vision I knew these chairs could be an amazing addition to my plans for the front porch.  What I was most interested in was the deep grooves and unusual shape these chairs had to offer.

You see, when choosing a piece of furniture to refinish, one of the most important elements needed is uniqueness.  If something is architecturally interesting, your eye will automatically be drawn to it, especially once you accentuate those features.

So, with an idea in mind, I gathered my supplies and began work on the chairs.

What you see pictured is all I needed:

• Deco Art Weathered Wood crackling Medium
• Americana multi-surface satin paint
• Americana décor stencil
• Americana Stain (for aging the paint)
• Americana acrylic satin enamel paint formulated for furniture
• and finally, Americana acrylic sealer

Using the Acrylic Enamel I base coated both chairs entirely (don't forget to paint the backs and underside of the chairs so that no matter what angle you view it, the piece looks complete).  Then, once dried, I applied a second coat.  I didn't worry too much about brush strokes and uniformity because I knew I would be distressing, aging, and grunging down the piece when it was done.  The brush strokes really just add to the worn appeal. 

Once the chairs were completely dry, I mapped out the areas I wanted to crackle the chair- don't feel like you have to stick to applying a technique over the entire piece.  The thing with age is that it's never consistent, especially when it comes to furniture.  All furniture yellows and cracks differently, and it's rarely over the entire piece.  For this piece, I wanted to add interest to some of the flat surfaces on the chair.  Taking my stain color, I painted over those sections I intended to crackle, leaving some of the white still show through underneath the brown streaks.  I also dragged some of my brushstrokes down over the seat of the chair in order to bring a little of the crack down over the seat. 

Refinishing furniture takes a lot of patience because of all the dry time required.  Once the chairs were dry again, I painted a thick coat of the crackle medium over top of all the sections I had painted with the stain.  With the crackle medium still tacky, I painted my final layer of acrylic enamel and watched the crackle medium do it's work.

As you can see pictured above, I took the stain and painted over the grooved sections of the chair, but instead of allowing it to dry this time, I took a wet cloth and wiped the stain back off, only leaving the stain in the recesses of the furniture.  This gives us the final effect we are looking for.

Taking the décor stencil provided by Deco Art, I dry brushed the multi-surface satin paint lightly onto the seat of the chair, layering the different colors until I achieved the look I wanted.

 

Now, before you can call any piece complete, and no matter how excited you are to display it, don't forget to seal your project first!  You don't want all your hard work lost over the wear and tear of time!

And that's it, guys! From this:

 

To This:

Enjoy!

 

- Kaitlyn Emery