Color My World (Kitchen Chair Reveal)

 Hi Everyone!

I am finally going to share how my chalk painted kitchen chairs turned out.  It has been a long time!!!  As I was painting them, I shared with you that this was my first attempt at chalk paint and because of the original finish of my chairs, it was neither a fun or easy process.  In the end, however, they turned out EXACTLY as I have envisioned !  I am really liking the brighter change.

As you can see, the main body of the chairs are all creamy white, with a dark wax over top.  The decorative chair backs each received a different chalk paint to coordinate with the different colors I use throughout the main floor of our home.

  Here is a  before photo of the chairs before their re-do.  The black lacquer finish was such a pain in the pa-toot - look at all those hand prints! I could never win the war with these chairs.

And here is one of the chairs in it's new paint job and fabric seat.  The fabric is outdoor grade so it will withstand any mishaps or spills. (I hope!)

I still have one more chair to finish, but that one I am simply going to paint all in the creamy color - including the decorative area. Even for me, five colors might be a little too much! I am also going to be taking down the dreadful vertical blinds on the kitchen patio door very soon and re-hang my Pottery Barn panels.  We had hoped the blinds would help our dog with his thunderstorm/lightning anxiety, but it has not....so back to pretty instead.

Just putzing around the house today - cleaning and getting things done for the week before I head off to work tomorrow.  How about you? What's up?

Thanks for stopping by,

Jane

Linking with these fun parties:

Wow Us Wednesday

Party in Your PJ's

Chair by Chair: The Update

Hi Everyone,

This chair thing is really taking a whole lot longer than I had planned.  This is my first foray into chalk paint, and I will tell you that I pretty much hate don't like it.  At all.  These babies would have been done long ago with traditional paint, with a nicer finish I think.  But........after some tweaking, the chairs are coming along and are going to be just great once they are done.  Whenever. That. Might. Be.

Let me say: don't believe a word of the no prep!! Not true. At least not for me.  I cleaned and sanded my pieces, as they were a very shiny, factory finish. The paint still would not adhere.  Luckily, I started with just the one panel.  After I sanded my first attempt off, I gave the chairs a coat of primer.

Now we're cooking with gas and the paint is staying on beautifully.  My main motivator for chalk paint originally was the no prep tantalizer, so that was disappointing to find out that I had to do just as much prep (and a lot more work) as if I was spraying them. Perhaps if my chairs had a different finish to start, things would have been different.  

Here is one  chair with a coat of primer, and a coat of chalk paint.  They have been taking 2 1/2 coats to get a nice finish.

And now - drum roll please - I told you I would be using all the of the paint colors I showed you in a previous post, just not in the way you would expect.  Here is a glimpse of what I did (bear in mind that most need a second coat, or were in the processing of being waxed when I took these photos:

I still have one more color to use, and the fifth chair will be left white. I have waxed the chairs with several coats of clear wax and I am pretty sure I will be using dark wax on just the colored portion of the chairs - the floral carving will pick up the dark wax quite nicely, and the colors will be slightly toned down.

Personally, I am loving the color combo!  I can't wait to get the upholstered seats re-fastened to the chairs and finish things up so I can share the finished product.

That's my update for now.  I am {this close} to being done.

Hope your weekend is going along great!

Thanks for stopping by,
Jane

Linking to:

Find Your Voice Friday

Chairs of a Different Color?

Hi Everyone,

I am still thinking about my kitchen chairs.  I shared the new fabric with you yesterday - and here it is pictured below.

Mr. Bluebird is all in with this project, so ......it looks like things will be done sooner than later. As I mentioned, I have been under the weather lately, and he has been a real gem in helping me out with some of my decorating dreams.  Here's where you come in.............

Here is a photo of our kitchen chairs.  They are looking a little beat up these days (but not in a good way) and really need a paint job.  Now, I could just re-paint them black and call it a day.  But I am thinking of maybe doing something a little different.

What do you all think of painting each chair a different color that is found in the fabric?  These are the paints I am considering from American Paint Company:

Nana's Cupboard

 Orange Grove

Amber Waves of Grain

Bordello

Parchment

Five chairs. Five colors.

I am not sure about this idea, but I am giving it some thought.

What say you?

Thanks for stopping by,

Jane

Linking with:
Find Your Voice Friday
Saturday Sparks