Cane Chair Makeover - Part One

We came across these two chairs on Kijiji. The blue one was $5 and the pink one was $30.  We knew with a bit of paint and some new fabric, they could look fabulous. 

The pink chair had a bunch of scratches on it, but otherwise was in good shape.  The blue chair was pretty gross. I guess it was a cats chair because the fabric was ripped to shreds and it was covered in cat hair... ewww.  

Anyways, we started by taking them apart which meant removing A LOT of staples.

Then we mixed our go to version of chalk paint.  Which is: Dissolve 1/3 cup of Plaster of Paris with 1/3 cup of HOT water, then add 1/2 cup of paint.  
We wanted to try something new, so first we painted the chairs in a pretty blue green.

Then, we painted an antique white over top of the blue.

We let that dry overnight. We sanded it down with 100 grit sandpaper to 'distress it'.

Not done yet :) Then, we mixed a bit of Behr's Espresso Beans paint with some Satin finish Varathane.  We brushed that on, and wiped it off with a damp towel. We epecially wanted it to get into all the nooks an crannies so it would look 'antiqued'.

We're pretty happy with the finish it gave. When we brushed the varnish on, all of the 'flaws' were highlighted which made the chairs look lovely. It also really brought out the blue tones.

You'll have to stay tuned for the upholstery and after photos!

~Bri & Adam~