While perusing Craigslist earlier this year, I came across these handsome retro chairs. The set of four was sturdy and chic, but the chippy varnish was a mess. Our painted pine floor looks lovely, I thought, so why not paint these pine chairs too?
To kick things off, I gave the chairs a complete sanding with 100-grit paper. Fortunately, the finish was thin and flaky and came off quite quickly. To remove hardier finishes, I recommend using evil burning ooze, or paint stripper as it’s commonly called. Wear gloves and a mask because the stuff is highly toxic and highly evil.
After I wiped the wooden chairs clean with a damp rag, they were all prepped for primer. Remember, different paint colors demand different tones of primer: the "atrium white" seats, frames and legs were all primed in white, the darker "raspberry truffle" and "royal blue" backrests in gray. With primer applied, the waiting game officially began. After a few hours, I applied the semi-gloss topcoat using an inch and a half wide brush with easy-to-wash synthetic bristles. I painted with long, steady strokes always in the direction of the wood grain. Hours and countless NPR podcasts later, I was happy to be done. Painting chairs is a tedious task, and even Ira Glass was getting on my nerves.
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hmm - jury is out on this one. i loved the original wood grain - but understand if you absolutely HAD to make them a different color. the final look is very well done.
Great chairs! Not the colors I would have chosen for my place, but a quality job.
looks like oak johnny. too bad it's painted over now.
Impossible for Ira Glass to get on anyone's nerves.
This chairs "had" a lovely wood grain pattern. Old varnish can be removed with the a miture of hot water and ammonia. Toxic chemicals have to be used to remove what is on those chairs now - paint.
"mixture"
With oak's grain, if you had to strip anyhow, I think I'd have tried a color stain -- green or blue, maybe... but something that preserves the look of the wood a bit more.
It's a nice paint job, but it seems a more appropriate concept for pine.
Those are oak chairs...
...and while I don't mind that they're painted - It would have been nice to stick with a single color - perhaps a color that wasn't the same as the walls?
Wow, you'd think with all that fancy shop equipment the guy would be able to tell the difference between pine and oak...
Superb job. I do like the crisp white juxtaposed with the chosen colors of the backrest. Very sophisticated now instead of a "oak-schoolhouse" finish.
Oh - the result is interesting, but so "blah" compared to the original wood. (Oak, not pine.)
Personally, I abhor the look of Oak. Don't know why, I just think it's fugly.
So I like this redo, it looks fresh and crisp and clean.
The two tone idea is a different look.
Those chairs have really nice lines. They could have been great painted, but these colors do absolutely nothing for them. You'd be much more successful with a single solid color. With a solid color, the simple lines of the chairs would take center stage --- not the DIY paint job.
Also agree with SherryBinNH -- a colored stain might have been interesting, too.
Granted, it's a matter of taste, but I agree that a colored stain would have preserved some of the wonderful woodgrain and still allowed for color. I'm also not sure about the proportions of color used. Maybe look a Reitvelt's (sp?) RedBlue chair for inspiration.
I'll shortly be moving into a house with a TON of original woodwork, and I'll be honest with you all:
The stuff that isn't original? I'm painting it. I feel I have to break up the color somehow, and there's some added-in cabinetry that's screaming to be painted in an accent color.
Also, I have a cache of abandoned dining chairs that are looking for just this kind of treatment.
It is a matter of taste but I think these chairs look a lot less heavy and clunky painted. I may not have chosen those exact colors. People have been painting dressers etc for years to get the shabby chic look. Why not put a modern twist on it? Well done!
i just painted an antique dresser in a sexy high gloss finish. my dad nearly had a heart attack, but he's old. great job!
Unfortunate color choices aside, if you cannot tell the difference between pine and oak, you should not be using the woodworking equipment visible in these photos. You could seriously hurt yourself or someone else.
Prefer old oak to painted. Prefer solid paint job to an arbitrary tri-tone-- why visually chop up the horizontal backrest into differently colored squares? ("Because... I CAN", says the artiste).
I am also on the wagon of oak being fugly (I think our house growing up just had TOO much of it.) I think they look better painted, but agree with others in that it's not the colors I would have gone with.
Also, what's up the final photo? Either those chairs are huge and everything else is tiny? The ceiling is really short? The vase is too big? The side table is too big/small? No idea, but it's wracking my brain!
@MRSkeller Check out some of Johnny's other missives. You'll notice this is a slanted ceiling above that wall. So, yes the door is a half door for a storage area.
I personally like the painted over oak. Oak will always = 80's bedroom furniture for me!
Oh no! Maybe you should have painted the door and the stool instead.
The finished chair looks like a Tommy Hilfiger ad to me : (