A Chair with Flair

Yes, I realize the post title is kind of dumb. But I have a head-cold, and it rhymes, ok?? I am lacking in brain power, the phlegm is crowding it all out;)

Anyhow...yesterday I wasn't feeling well (see head-cold above) and Ty was working...but it was such a gorgeous day and with the clear blue skies overhead I felt inspired. So I decided to re-do one of the bargain chairs I had bought when we first moved to Texas (remind me to tell you all about how I went a little nuts with the furniture. Can we say 7 pieces? AND this is before we had bought all the formal kitchen and living room pieces you've already seen! I have a problem...) Anyhow, the chair wouldn't mind if I was hacking, sneezing, and snotting while I put it together, right? Better the chair than a person!

I am pretty thrilled with the results, so thought I'd share, but I'm warning you - it's kind of a long post, so sit back and enjoy or just scroll to the bottom for the final product:)

The pair - painted a metallic silver and covered in a brown and black chenille! Ugh. Hideous. But for only $20 for the pair, it was worth it!


Since this was my first attempt at re-doing a piece of furniture, I decided to just tackle one chair, here the culprit and my materials wait for me in the sun:


I removed the seat pad and primed the chair:


While the primer dried, I removed the old cover to find the original (plaid) and used the cover as a pattern to cut out my fabric of choice. The new fabric was gotten on clearance too, hooray!


The new cushion, covered with a fabulous new fabric:


I painted the chair with a warm gray and then slightly distressed it with a glaze. The glaze was definitely the hardest part because I'm not a huge fan of heavy distressing, so I wanted it to be ever so slight, so it took a little patience but in the end it was worth it:


A little before and after action:


All done!


In its final resting spot:


I plan to finish the other chair next weekend and then will be on the hunt for the perfect little side table I can put between the two! OR even better - perhaps I can score a little vintage tea cart, wouldn't that be cute? So check back later...I'm sure I'll have more to share:)