One Room Challenge: Week 4 - Refinishing Dining Chairs
Hello and welcome to the blog!
It is week 4 of the One Room Challenge! It is hard to believe that we are halfway through the challenge; the weeks have been flying by! There is still SO much work to be done. Let’s go over what’s coming up in the next few weeks.
Before
Week 5: Paint ceiling, walls, grout, and casing around sliding door
Week 6: Build & hang shelves
Week 7: Install trim, hang light fixture, and complete finish work
Week 8: Reveal!
This week I took on a task that is new for me; refinishing dining chairs. We got our dining room chairs for free 4 years ago, and they have needed some love this whole time. I went back and forth on whether I should stain the chairs or paint them. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get the chairs down to a wood that would stain well, so I ultimately decided to paint them.
I knew from the get-go that I wanted the chairs to be black. I researched different types of paint to use on furniture and chose chalk paint. I had never used chalk paint before, but it intrigued me because it required less prep than other paints. At my local Home Depot, they had a choice of Rust-Oleum and Behr chalk paint. I liked that Behr had the option to tint the paint to pretty much any color you would be looking for. I had the paint tinted to the color Classic Noir; I saw some pictures of furniture painted this color and thought it would be a good fit. Let’s get into what I did to refinish these chairs.
Supplies:
Natural bristle paintbrush
Lint-free cloth
Choice of fabric
Scissors
Staple gun or electric staple gun
Staples
Screwdriver
Krud Kutter
Paper towels
Paintbrush
Tutorial:
Second coat of chalk paint
Step 1. Remove the seat cushions.
The seat cushions for my chairs were attached with 4 screws from the bottom.
Step 2. Clean the chair thoroughly with a degreaser or soap and water.
I used Krud Kutter. I am always surprised at how much grime it takes off!
Step 3. Paint two coats with drying time in between.
I used a polyester paintbrush because that was what I had on hand. The Behr chalk paint is very thick, but I found that with the polyester paintbrush, it goes on streaky. I read that using a natural bristle brush can solve this problem. That being said, with two coats of paint, I had great coverage even using the polyester brush.
Step 4. Wax the chairs.
Marking the fabric before cutting
A Lint-free cloth or a natural bristle brush can be used to apply the wax (I used a natural bristle brush). After applying the wax to a small area, I wiped off the excess wax using a new lint-free cloth. It’s important to wipe off all the excess wax; it will dry white if you don’t remove it all. I had a problem removing all the excess wax from the crevices, so I had to go back and buff it out later.
Note: You can add more wax and wipe off the excess again to remove any dried wax.
Step 5. Cut fabric to size and re-cover seat cushions.
Using the seat cushion as a template, I cut my new fabric to size, with a few inches of overlap on each side. Then I stapled the new fabric to the underside of the seat cushion, trying to keep the outside of the cushion looking smooth. This took MUCH longer than I thought it would.
If you’re looking for a How to Chalk Paint Furniture video, this one was helpful.
Thoughts & things I would do differently
Left: before. Right: chalk paint without wax.
So there are a few things about this project that I want to address. The paint color ended up skewing more grey than black (before waxing). This really made me question if I made the right decision on a type of paint and paint color. Also, the sheen of the chalk paint is very matte, which was throwing me off a bit. I knew that it would be matte, but it just didn’t look quite right to me on the chairs. Honestly, after painting five chairs, two coats each, I was worried because I didn’t LOVE it (and I still needed to paint one more chair).
I panicked a little, then decided to do a test patch of wax to see if that helped the paint look more black. Good news, it did! I was relieved because that meant I didn’t have to do anything else to darken the paint. They do sell dark waxes and you can tint clear wax yourself if needed. The difference in color before and after waxing is subtle, but it is definitely enough to make me happy with it (see pics at the end of the post). Now, onto waxing, it is really hard to get all the wax out of the crevices, and excess wax will dry white. I ended up having to go back to every chair to remove dried wax from the crevices. Maybe the more you work with wax the easier it gets. Since this was my first time using wax, I will CHALK it up to user error.
Behr chalk paint sample without wax, wall paint swatch, and fabric selection for seat cushions
For the seat cushions, I decided on vinyl that looks like leather. I figured it would be easier to clean than other types of fabric, and I liked the contrast the new cushions added. When choosing fabric I brought paint samples from the chair and the walls with me, but I’m not 100% confident that I will like the cushions once the whole space is put together. This project cost me roughly $100, which I think is pretty good for six chairs and enough supplies to use on other projects in the future. With that in mind, if I end up not loving the chairs at the end of the project, I’m okay with spending a little more time and money to get the chairs to where I want them to be.
Left: Finished chair. Middle: Before and after. Right: Chair without wax (left). Chair with wax (right).
Let me know your thoughts in the comments; I would love to chat with you guys. Follow along next week to see how the room looks painted!! I’m very excited for our dining room to stop looking like a construction zone.
If you want to see more room transformations check out the other ORC participants here. And If you haven’t already, give me a follow on Instagram. Thanks for reading!