Annie was looking for new occasional chairs for her office but she didn't want to spend a lot of money. Enter these two old chairs for $25. All they needed was a little TLC and now they look like a million bucks!
Those poor chairs in the before picture, with their plastic covered seats that almost made them look monochromatic, were a sad sight to behold. Now, with the oh-so-en-vogue gray paint and freshly covered seats, they look brand new!.
The first thing Anne did was rip the plastic and fabric off the old seat cushions. Then, she recovered the seats with a new modern floral print fabric. While the seats were off, Anne repainted the chairs. She's totally a girl after my own heart: she skipped the messy sanding and went straight to priming the chairs. I often skip sanding myself because it just doesn't always seem necessary to make a big mess.
After allowing the primer to dry, Anne painted the chairs with a mix of 3 old paints she had on hand ('atta girl!). Once painted, Anne popped the seat cushions back on the chairs and now those old dated chairs look brand new!
There are many more photos of the makeover process over at Anne's blog: Hello Newman's: "New" Chairs for the Office.
Images: Hello Newman's
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These are lovely! The gray is a nice surprise, and the fabric is fresh and pretty without being overly bright.
Lovely! I live the colors in the fabric too. Gives me an idea for some old chairs I have in storage!
Oooolala !
cute.
Very nice. Refreshing.
Really nice! Good work.
I like the "before" chairs so much better! The vinyl seat covering is the only thing I would have changed......but would have kept the seats orange or another bright solid color. I don't care for the too-large floral print on the "after" chairs.
i thought the "before" chairs were the finished products! i think those are so much more unique (no offense)!
I love these! They turned out so pretty! Great job.
I just posted my chair redo also. See it here:
http://makemineeclectic.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/old-chair-becomes-new-chair/
That's a lovely choice of new fabric: not too busy and nicely freeform. As for the paint... well, natural wood is almost always classier than painted wood. A little furniture oil might have gone a long way.
Still, they do match the rug very nicely.
WEll i don't think they look like a million bucks but I do appreciate that you mixed together 3 paints that you already had. I like that you skipped the sanding. I always wonder if that is really necessary. How many coats of primer did you put on? 1 or 2?
Like everyone else, I would have just replaced the cushions and cleaned up the chairs.
Oooh, this is a great makeover! I purchased some ugly old wooden chairs a few weeks ago and have been waiting for the motivation to revamp them. I hope they turn out as good as these!
~Teresa
Upcycling (or refinishing or "saving from the landfill" or whatever) is such a personal thing that one must be very brave or very naive in putting it out for the masses to comment on. I personally don't like the gray paint. It just looks drab and sad IMHO. But who cares. I didn't pay you to do this to my chairs. They're yours and it looks like you love this color. The chairs are still being used by someone who is happy with them and it looks to me like you did a good job. So I say congrats! Job well done.
Mr. Modtomic
@citygirlsf: gray's a surprise? It's all I ever see here or at Design*Sponge or any other decor blog, and the trend's many months old. It's been the "it" color forever, and can make its way out anytime -- agree with Mr. Modtomic re: drab. Maybe those who love it didn't go to a high school with gray-painted cinder block walls (or ever see a show about prisons)? Blergh.
Super cute! Nice makeover.
Love the scale of the fabric- its like a zoom in of a traditional Japanese fabric. The grey chairs look a little lost against the grey rug, though, hopefully they are place in a room where their lines are shown off better.
Very nice! I have serious upcycled chair envy.
Beautiful result! Mixing your leftover paint - very clever.
I love that fabric, but I probably would have kept the wood. Wood stays in style, and it's decent looking on those chairs. Who knows how long gray will be in?
I like the before picture better. The wood looks way better and there's something cool and retro about the yellow mustard. I probably would have gone with a retro fabric. I find the floral print really cheesy. It's not a good floral.
@mdesignsinla: yeah, but where you see "cool and retro" and "way better," I see "wow, that's...[how shall I put this politely...] Quite A Look." Not everybody likes retro, believe it or not, and what constitutes a "good" print is, of course, highly subjective.
Sometimes I really wish AT had more room for those who don't worship at the shrine of MCM/hipster/retro/ironic/whatever.
@robynthegeek: the gray can be painted, though, no? (Hopefully soon!)