REUPHOLSTERING A CHAIR, PART II... PAINTING

I enjoy the process of painting furniture. I think it is very artistic... 

I am tackling the Herculean job of reupholstering eight dining room chairs. But not only reupholstering them... painting them too!

If you have missed REUPHOLSTERING A CHAIR, PART I... deconstructing the upholstery, click HERE.

Once the chairs were without fabric... and all the mess that came with that... I could not wait to give them a new look with paint...

Here is the before picture of the 18th Century mahogany chairs. If you can't imagine painting over 18th century furniture, now is a good time to divert your eyes!

You can't believe how many e-mails I got trying to convince me NOT to paint them!

These chairs are 26 years old and are in absolutely perfect condition... a real testimony to the quality of Ethan Allen!!!!  But I need a change!  So what's a girl to do? Paint them... of course!

Just had to give this chair a swipe of paint to see the difference!

The first thing I did was decide what color and finish I wanted for the chairs.

I was pretty sure I wanted to create a "washed look" on the chairs.  

Using 5 inch sections of crown molding, I painted one with ANNIE SLOAN CHALK PAINT in Pure White and one with ANNIE SLOAN CHALK PAINT in Country Grey.

I buy a large piece of crown molding and have the kind people at my local hardware store cut it into 5 inch sections. These are my practice boards.

Then I applied a "wash" of country grey over the pure white base and a "wash" of pure white over the country grey.

The effects were dramatically different!

Same colors... applied differently! That is why I always practice before I paint anything!

I decided that the Country Grey (CG from now on) with a wash of Pure White (PW) was the look I wanted.

So I set up a work station in the foyer... turned my chair upside down on the table and went to work painting it  CG.

Base coating is like grunt work to me! Not very interesting!!!! But I paint a little differently than most ASCP painters. I don't slap on my paint. I really try to paint in the direction of the wood grain.

After two coats of of CG I lightly, gently, sweetly sanded the whole chair. I know that most ASCP painters will tell you to put a coat of clear wax on it first... but it does not get as smooth as I like that way.

Then I washed the whole chair in PW. Removing the PW with the grain of the chair.

You can see the lovely striated marks it makes on the base of the chair.  This is the look I wanted!

When the chair is completed, the "stripes" will be quite subtle.

I will do a tutorial next Wednesday showing this technique.

Here's a look at the back of the chair leg.

The next step was to wax with ANNIE SLOAN CLEAR WAX and buff it with a soft, clean rag...

You can see how it is beginning to get an aged look with a pretty luster...

Working in small areas, I applied clear wax and before it dried applied a light coat of dark wax over it.  Working quickly, I rubbed the dark wax off of the chair.  This defined the intricate cut out work of the chair.

If there were areas that had too much dark wax on them, I rubbed it with clear wax on a soft, clean rag and that would usually take much of the dark wax off.

Then I gave the whole chair a good buff with a soft, clean rag.

To bring out the carving in the chair, I dry brushed it here and there with PW.

You can see how the curved flourish picked up the dry brushed PW and stands out.

I also dry brushed the body of the chair lightly...

One more coat of clear wax and a good buffing and the chair was done... or at least the painting!

From this....

To this....

Today I am starting to upholster two of the chairs that have been painted and cured.

To see the chair fabrics, click HERE.

I have never done this before... YIKES!

SATURDAY NITE SPECIAL