a weekend project

I love when I have some time to spare—which isn't that often—to attempt a weekend project. Most of my weekend projects involves color in some way and most often in paint. This past weekend was one of those rare moments when I was caught up with my design projects and paperwork so I decided to paint these two kitchen chairs [below].

Since they had a semi-gloss finish, I had to sand them first. This is what they looked like after sanding them by hand. I bought these chairs for $10 and they survived four years at college with my son and a house full of boys! I figured if they survived that, then they could survive anything so they went home with me when he was finished with college. As you can see, they went through many color variations through the years—from their original stain, to black and then gray and now to blue.

I chose blue mainly to pull out the blue in the new kitchen rug. I found the perfect match with a Behr paint called Restless Sea [UL230-23].

I love how they look with the rug, adding just enough color and balancing all the warm tones in the room.

Notice the sanded edges on the seat and back of the chair. I wanted to give them an aged look to complement my collection of antique accessories and crocks.

Our kitchen renovation is now completed. It only took two years and four months! Click here to view the before photos. It's amazing what a little paint can do!

a weekend painting project

January was a very crazy month for me. I had several large projects in the studio which kept me quite busy, even on the weekends! This past weekend, I finally had some free time and I was in the mood to paint—not walls but an old chair that I picked up at a flea market.

The chair had seen better days. It was pretty beat up and the chair cushion was a very dirty green vinyl. But for just $5, I knew it was a special jewel just waiting for a makeover. 

I wanted to use the chair in my studio so I made a trip to Home Depot and purchased an orange paint to match marigold's logo. The color is called Fresh Tangerines by Glidden.  

I couldn't decide on the fabric so I ended up buying both of these. Either one would have worked but in the end, I chose the geometric pattern.

The chair—before and after. It's amazing what a little paint can do! Total cost of the project was under $20 plus $5 for the cost of the chair!