Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Vintage chairs: Before and After

While at my sisters one day, I noticed these chairs under her play house just sitting away and I knew that they were something special. They had belonged to her husbands grandparents years ago. They were about to get rid of them. I immediately put them in my car and set to work.

I had first decided to remove all the paint with paint thinner. After a bottle of thinner, peeling away 7 coats of paint and a lot of backache later I decided it wasn't feasible to do this myself. Matt found a sand blasting company close by us and we took them in. If you ever think about doing a project like this take my advice, sand blasting is the way to go! It wasn't very expensive and it did a WAY better job than I could have. Here they are in mid spray paint. I put primer on them first and then sprayed them two different colors.

Here they are finished and lovely. We decided on bright colors and contrasting arms. And while I was at it I brightened up the rest of the front porch. I made those pillows using towels that I bought from Ikea. I love it now. I love that the chairs have a little history and are all fancied up again. I bet they feel grand.


10 comments:

Lilly said...

They turned out darling! Job well done lady.

jayna said...

Love them! They're a fine pair for your cute porch. I actually did call a sandblaster place here, but apparently it only works on metal stuff. Bummer. I had visions of this rocking chair I have coming back all smooth and stripped with no effort on my part whatsoever!

Erin Leigh said...

dude, you're a genius! please come to my house and give me some martha tips

Anne said...

ooooh I love it!

UsdailyReader said...

Absolutely love the chairs! Great job!

Natalie said...

Those are so cute Carrie. I'm very impressed.

skip said...

Skip says if you find another two, grab them for Midway! They're great!

Diana said...

Nice work Care.

Riley Family said...

Super cute! I'd like to know how you looked at the first set and pictured the final outcome? Seriously! I never could have done it. You did a great job!

Melissa said...

Carrie! These chairs look gorgeous! You did such a great job.

You should submit it to design sponge.