Dining Room Chairs Revealed

Last March I started transforming my dining room rooms.  The first step was to reupholster the seat cushions as they didn't all match and needed some updating to say the least. This was what I started with.

You can go here to see how I recovered the chairs to make them look like this.

Then I stopped because I wasn't entirely sure which direction to take from there.  I knew the table needed to be refinished badly and at that point why not restain the chairs too. OR should I go in a totally different approach and paint them??  So for the spring/summer my dining room looked like this. (well lets be honest, it only looks like this when I am taking pictures... most of the time it is a disaster zone with projects piled high on the table)

Now to be completely clear, there was nothing wrong with that look! I liked it... didn't have any problem with it... but I didn't LOVE it.  Also the chairs had some well worn spots that started to bug me. SO I primed them (see here) and then I painted them!! I opted for a creamy white spray paint!  I used Rustoleums Ivory Bisque spray paint!  It was actually fairly easy!!  The first coat took the longest but I had all 7 chairs done in about 45 minutes.  Then after letting it dry for 24 hours I lightly sanded down any areas I wasn't thrilled with and did a second coat which only took about a half hour.  I LOVE the end result!

Here they are at the table. As you can see the table is full of 'stuff'!

I love the look of the white chairs with the stained table.  As you can see in this picture the table top is in rough shape and needs refinishing. 



I will eventually get to refinishing the table. I have finally decided I want to keep the table the same way, I don't want to paint it or stencil it (that was an option) because I'm afraid its going to be too busy in there.  Striped chairs with a stenciled table top is a bit much.  I also love the look right now so I just need to refinish the top of the table and I'll be plenty happy with it!! 

So you don't have to scroll to the top, notice how much brighter the white chairs make my dining room!!!

 

This room isn't complete by any means.  I have a future plan to make a built in cabinet on the right side where the dresser is currently.  There is more than enough space to do built in drawers/cupboards below and wine rack above with glasses etc.  But that is down the road.

Birthday Paint Party

This week I turned 29... ahhhh last year in my 20's!!  Well I took my birthday off work and being ... well me.. I decided instead of sitting back and relaxing on my day off I would be productive.  I pulled out all 7 of our dining room chairs, yes we have an uneven number.  Our dining room set was my Grand Omas and it came with 4 chairs. We randomly found another 3 at a an antique store by our cottage for $25 each!!!  So now was have 7 chairs. As previously mentioned in this post I have been debating whether to paint or stain the chairs.  I finally decided I wanted to paint them and I have an awesome plan for the table, details on that at a later date!!  I pulled out all of the dining room chairs took off the seat cushions and gave them a thorough cleaning!

 

Then I pulled out a foam brush and the can of Zinsser primer and got to work priming these babies with the best primer out there!! I LOVE that I didn't have to sand them down!!! 

It took forever and I decided to paint them I will definitely be spray painting them!  But I'm sooo happy the priming is done.  At about a half hour a chair it took me about 4 hours to finish these!!

And that is how I spent my birthday, most people think I'm crazy but it was the BEST day! I LOVE projects!!!