A Chair Makeover

BEFORE

I thought I would share a chair makeover that I did. I searched high and low for a before photo and this was the only one I could find where someone wasn't sitting in it. It was taken in our old house right after I bought the chair and, as you can see by the date in the photo, I've had it for almost 11 years. It's hard to see the finish in this photo, but it was a dark gold color, and the cushions are floral (obviously).

Moving into a different house gave me an opportunity to finally create a completely new look and even though I couldn't buy a new chair, I knew I could at least substantially change the look of this one just by painting it and changing the fabric.

Now for the unorthodox painting method. It was impossible to use a brush and I didn't have a paint sprayer, so I just took a rag, dipped it in paint and started rubbing it on. No primer. Nothing. I just rubbed the paint on, let it sit for a day, rubbed more paint on, let it sit, and then took another rag and added antiquing glaze until it looked like I wanted it to. I probably wouldn't recommend this method but, luckily, it worked for me! :-)

AFTER

 For the cushions, I purchased some fabric at JoAnn Etc. with my 50% off coupon and had an upholsterer cover the cushions for me. I didn't trust my skills enough to do it and since they're just loose cushions, the cost wasn't too bad (definitely way better than the price of a new chair!). Just to add a little different spin, I had them use the reverse of the fabric for a center panel on the top cushion. (This obviously won't work with all fabrics, but I lucked out on this one.) Now that I look at this photo, it almost looks like the bottom cushion is the same color as the center panel on the top cushion. It's not. All of the cushions are the same color with the exception of that one center panel.

That's it! Here are the before and after together...