Welcome back to another edition of DIY Themed Furniture Makeover Day! If you’re new around here, each month we get together with a group of talented furniture painters, and each create a project based on the same theme. This month our theme is “neutrals”, and as always, it’s open to interpretation by the participants.
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I have to tell you we struggled this month. And I know what you’re thinking, how in the world do you struggle with something as broad as “neutral”?! But it wasn’t the theme we struggled with. It was this chair. This chair that we found at the thrift store and thought, oh, we don’t ever makeover chairs or do upholstery. Let’s makeover this chair! That’ll be fun!
Oh, how wrong we were. This chair was not fun. This chair was the opposite of fun. The truth is we probably should have bailed on the chair weeks ago and picked a different piece of furniture for this project. But we like to make things difficult and un-fun for ourselves, so stick with the chair we did.
Want to meet the chair? Behold. Here she is fresh out of the thrift store.
She looks innocent enough, doesn’t she? I won’t bore you with all the details, but this chair rebelled against every attempt at a makeover, and she’s currently wearing her third or fourth paint color. I lost count of the number of fabrics we tried.
My mom finally took the reins and painted it with Annie Sloan’s graphite chalk paint. We sealed it with GF water based sealer, replaced the cushions, and reupholstered it with fabric from JoAnn’s. If you do occasional upholstering, an inexpensive electric staple gun like this one really comes in handy.
Have you ever worked with a piece that just didn’t want to follow the plan? What do you do when that happens?
Ready to see what the other girls did with “neutral” projects? Check them out below, and if you want to see the full tutorials just click the photos.
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I have always loved the lines of barrel chairs, especially the caning. You two did an awesome job because I know upholstery can be a pain! 😀
Good for you two for not giving up on this chair. It looks so pretty after its makeover. I love your paint choice and also the fabric that you chose.
I love this chair!!! Great makeover!
You had me with the thumbnail. I just knew you had reholstered this lovely chair and I couldn’t wait to read about the process. Lovely job. You’ve given me courage to try this myself. #fingerscrossed XOXO Susie from The Chelsea Project
Sorry to hear this gave you so much trouble, but the results are stunning!! XO
What and amazing difference paint and fabric made on that chair! It is GORGEOUS!!! Worth the trouble it gave you!
Hugs,
Karin
Y’all sound exactly like us…we don’t accept defeat and we are not quitters LOL. The good news is ALL of your efforts paid off. The chair looks beautiful and was well worth your struggles. Great job ladies!
Oh boy, it was your turn to get the chair from hell! I’m glad you persevered because it really is quite lovely. The charcoal gray color goes perfectly with that pretty fabric. You two are so talented and always produce such beautiful furniture pieces!
Your chair looks so classy in back and white. SO pretty!
Most of the furniture I work on doesn’t go as planned….and honestly, I typically give up on them! But then I come back and try something else when I’m not as frustrated. Why can’t things just go according to the plan and vision we have in our heads?!?! Your chair looks very stylish now though!
Ladies, I’m all-in for the painting but gotta give the fabric to my mom!!! I am a big fan of black and white and love what you picked for this chair! Your project turned out great!
Love the new black and white look! You guys did a great job!
Okay! I feel better that I’m not the only one where things go wrong and you need to try them over again. I love what you did. Love the fabric – works so well with the paint color!
What an amazing make over. It’s stunning. I love the fabric.
Chris
You’d never guess from looking at it that it gave you so much trouble – it turned out beautifully! Furniture can be so unpredictable at times, but I’m glad you stick with it. I’ve come to really like upholstery, but I sure didn’t at first 🙂
I WISH I knew how to upholster chairs like this. Stunning! Pinning and sharing too:)
I’m sorry you had so much trouble this this chair but it turned out beautiful! And that fabric is so cool!
I wish you had “bored us with the details”! It would have been fun to see all of the nitty gritty. Great job!
You’re totally right, Florence! I think I was just so over this piece that when it was time to write about it I was done! It was such a frustrating piece to work on and had this tiny little lip where the staples had to go and it was nearly impossible to get the staples to land on that lip correctly. Next time I’ll push through and add all the nitty gritty to the post :).
Great job on the chair! You make it seem easy!
Thanks Nancy! If it seemed easy it was only because my multi-talented mother was helping. The fabric would still be in a heap if I were doing it myself :).
This chair just goes to show how “good” you really are. It caught my eye out of all the other things and I had to know more. I know you have a little “hate on” for it but do you love it now as much as all of us do? I wish it were mine.
Thanks so much, Lori! I honestly don’t know if it’ll ever be my favorite piece, but that’s ok! It makes me feel better that you and others like it. I’m glad you stopped by :).