Hello Friends!!!!!!! It’s been about a month since I last posted. WHY??? Because I opened a brick and mortar store. My dream has officially come true and as I sit here writing this post I am in my store:)))))))) That’s a huge smiley face in case you were wondering.
Anyway, since I have been frantically painting furniture over the past few weeks, I thought I would show you how I turned this plain wood chair into whole new look with one coat of paint!!! One coat folks that it!!
Here was how it looked when I bought it. It was in phenomenal shape. I debated leaving it alone because the wood was in perfect condition but I knew if I changed the color of the wood it would make the current material on the seat and arms look completely updated and fresh.
The first thing I did was wipe down the whole chair with a vinegar/warm water mixture. I like to use this because it not only cleans well but it deodorizes which is necessary for some of these older projects. The fabric on the seat had a weird dark sticky molasses-like substance splattered all over it and my handy dandy vinegar mixture didn’t clean that off. It took 2 Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, yes 2, and a little arm power to get this thing clean but low and behold the seat and arms look brand spankin’ new again!!
Now that I have had my arm workout for the day I am ready to paint. I decided to do a dry brush technique on the wood which allowed the wood underneath to show through. It gives it an aged look without having to sand the paint off at the end. (You can see a prior tutorial on dry brushing here that I did last year. The easy tutorial is half way down in that post.)
I used BB Frosch Chalk Paint Powder mixed with a creamy white flat paint that I had leftover from another project. I have been using BB Frosch on all of my projects because I love it!!! Not to mention it’s super friendly to my wallet $$$ aka I am cheap skate. I like good quality with a low price tag. WHO DOESN’T!
I did not tape of my fabric for a few reason. 1- The fabric is wipe-able. So if I messed up I could wipe it off quickly. 2- I am awesome at hand painting and not messing up. 3- I couldn’t get tape to stick to the wood.
That’s it for painting! Seriously it took me about 20 minutes to paint all of the wood on this chair. You can see how the wood shows through with one sparse coat of paint.
I know I said I wouldn’t be sanding after I painted but I wanted to lightly sand the corners for some extra wear on the edges. I took a fine sanding sponge and just rubbed over those areas where I wanted a little extra aging.
Now it’s time to put a protective wax coat over the paint. This protects the chalk paint from scratches and gives the newly painted surface a nice sheen. I used BB Frosch Premium Finishing Wax in Clear and brushed it on with a waxing brush. You can of course rub it in with a cloth if you don’t have a waxing brush. But since I do and sell these products at my newly open store I am brushing it on. (You like how I promoted my BB Frosch products and products all in one sentence!! haha)
The nice thing about BB Frosch wax versus other waxes is that it dries in minutes and you can buff it to a sheen about 15 minutes later which is great because I can get a project done sooooo much faster not having to wait for the wax to dry and cure.
There you have it! I am done. One coat of a paint and one coat of wax. Total transformation in less than an hour. Not even kidding!
Hope you have a great week!!!!
So glad you didn’t remove the upholstered fabric because it looks like it was professionally done. The new look really is great. Good job!
Carol P-K
Yes Carol. The upholstering was in beautiful condition! I would have hated to ruin that! Thanks!!
Wow, the fabric looks like a totally different color just by giving it a thorough cleaning. Question on the distressing technique. The one photo shows a small medallion that has been expertly distressed in the nooks and crannies….what tool and method did you use to get into such a small recessed detail?
I actually used a really dry brush meaning I dipped the brush in my paint and then wiped most of it off on a paper towel and then I lightly brushed over the wood. So I didn’t actually cover those areas with paint leaving the wood show through. This way I don’t have to go back over the chair and sand in those little grooves. Does this make sense?? Thanks – Amy