The Chairs Makeover

This is my first post! Yay! This is also my first furniture makeover. I really thought it would extra awesome, if I shared it with the world!

So, I've had this table for about 5 years. I actually found it from beside a dumpster! It's a solid table, well made, but full of stains, scratches, burns, and dings. I hated the color from day one and have been staring at it wanting to fix it up for a really long time.

The chairs were given to me by a friend, about 3 years ago, and immediately I knew I wanted them to be black instead of forest green. They are metal frames, with a wood seat.

So today is the day.

I started doing tons of research, mostly on Pinterest, and I ran across this pin from Pink Toes and Power Tools. It not only looks exactly like my table, but it also is the exact look I was going for. I also decided to add a pop of pattern on the chair seats, so found this great (this tutorial) on how to mod podge fabric.

I'm actually not going to be talking about the table redo in this post like I had initially planned on. Although it turned out decent, it was all trial and error, and I have NO business teaching anyone how to do it. It was a hot mess. I had issues with everything from sanding, to painting, to the gloss top coat. If i can say anything at all, it is this: 

DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT USE SPRAY PAINT CLEAR COAT!! IT WILL MAKE YOU CRY!! 

If you would like to read the comical disaster that was redoing my table, I will be adding a post all about that nonsense soon!

I am SO glad it's over. I probably should have popped my furniture redo cherry on something smaller.

You live and learn.

The chairs turned out AMAZING though and were super easy, and I am SOOOO excited to share it with the world!!! Yay!!

First I'd like to just start out by saying, the site of Martha Stewart annoys the hell out of me. She just rubs me the wrong way. But, her products are FANTASTIC. I get an odd pleasure just walking by her section at Michael's, and if I could own all of it, I would. That being said, I was super excited when I found some of her gloriousness on clearance. I bought a bottle of metal primer a while back, and knew I'd need it for something eventually.

I love good buys. They give me a bit of a natural high. I'm not alone in this right?

Anyways, I started with one chair instead of doing all 4 at once, just in case there was some sort of catastrophe. I took off the wooden seat, and I painted a quick coat of the primer on the chair frame with a foam brush. It stuck really well, and dried pretty quick. The instructions say to wait 24 hours to paint over it, and I did wait. I hate waiting.

Next, I found this little gem for by one get one half off at my local Meijer store. It's insane how many variations of black spray paint there are. The word "luster" caught my attention though. So, Rust-oleum Laquer Specialty in High Lustre was my obvious choice.

I LOVE spray painting. I'd spray paint everything if I could. It's so easy (aside from getting a little trigger happy and ending up with drips once in a while). This was a little hard to push down though, I ended up with a cramped hand, which isn't uncommon with these hands of mine, but it shouldn't have happened with such a small job. I'm really happy with the application though. Even though the primer was white, it took one coat, with only a little touch ups. It took probably 12 hours to fully dry with no tackiness, and it is super shiny and perfect!

While the frame was drying, I took on the seat of the chair. I figured as much as I HATE sanding, it may be necessary to get the modpodge to stick better. I was wrong. In fact, I think it may have absorbed into the wood more than if I hadn't sanded. So, I skipped that step with the other 3. That's great. Sanding sucks.

I bought some home fashions fabric from JoAnn Fabrics. It's a thicker fabric, but still quite pliable. So, I cut out all 4 squares of fabric, with just enough to go over the edge of the bottom.  I started out in the middle of the seat, and did a relatively thick coat of modpodge to make sure it stuck. I worked my way out towards the edges, making sure it was even and there were no bubbles or creases. I flipped it over, and painted a coat over the edges, as well as underneath. I wasn't totally concerned with the corners because they're rounded, so I didn't really use a snazzy technique getting them perfect.

Now, my least favorite part.... Waiting. It took a couple hours before I was comfortable to seal it, but I didn't rush it. I painted 2 thin coats of modpodge over the fabric. Once vertically, and one horizontally.

It took over night before I could put the seat on the frame, and the only issue I had was a fabric bulge on one of the corners made the seat not align with the screw holes, so I flattened the bulge by smacking it with the handle of my screw driver. (Genius, right?)

And the end result......

Easy chair redo from Kiley Creates!
Spray paint and modpodge!

I am so happy with how they turned out. They are so beautiful!! They turned out exactly how I pictured them in my head, if not better.

So, to break it down

Metal primer $3.89
Rustoleum Lustre spray paint $10 (3 cans on sale)
Fabric $11 (I used less than a yard and a half for all for chairs)
Original ModPodge (orange label) $5
Foam brushes $2

I turned these from 4 eye sores to fabulous for under $25!

I will do an update in about 6 months about how they're holding up with three little boys living here. Thanks so much for reading! Please feel free to leave comments! Anyone have any products they just love to use on quick redos like this? I'd love to hear from you!