We’re always on the lookout for new furniture and home accessories. Round here most spare cash tends to be spent on home improvement projects, so you can imagine how happy we were when we managed to find these lovely chairs during one of our regular browsing sessions at our local antique centre.
Now admittedly the slightly yellowish colour of the beech chairs is not quite to our taste, but that doesn’t matter too much, as we’re painting them.
The first step before painting any old furniture is always to give it a good clean. The furniture will have been waxed or polished at some point, which will resist the paint if you don’t clean and remove it first. We love to use sugar soap for this step. It really removes all of the grime and leave a piece of furniture that’s ready to start working on.
As our chairs were varnished, the next step before painting was to give them a sand. We didn’t remove all of the varnish, we just gave everything a light rub with 240 grit sandpaper. Basically, you’re making a load of little scratches that the paint will settle into and grip hold of.
Then, after a quick wipe down to remove any dust from sanding, we could start on the fun part – painting. If you prime it, it should really give you a more durable finish, but being rebels as usual, we skipped the step.
We probably ended up applying about four or five really thin coats of paint. I hate seeing brush marks and much prefer a smooth and sleek finish. Applying lots of coats of paint really helps minimise any problems.
To seal the paint and make the finish more durable (remember, we didn’t prime the chairs), we then applied a few coats of varnish. The varnish also added a really nice soft sheen.
That was pretty much it – now we have four fancy new chairs.
We only have four chairs so far and are on the lookout for 4 more. I’m sure we’ll find four more colours for those chairs, too.
Now I know a lot of people out there are fans of chalk paint, but we admittedly really don’t get it. Although we had to sand the chairs before painting them, it still worked out a lot quicker than our previous chalk painting experience. The finish is also a lot smoother and more professional looking than we’ve been able to achieve with chalk paint.
If you like the shabby-chic look, chalk paint would probably be good, but we’re really not fans of that particular style. For us, it usually just looks messy and more shabby than chic.
They add a bit of fun and character to the room. We’re planning on keeping the rest of the room fairly neutral with white walls, so we feel that we can get away with the colourful chairs.
PS. For any of you wondering, the paint we used is by Habitat (available at Homebase) in Kingfisher, Hibiscus, Leaf and Banana.
Do have painted furniture in your home? Do you think we’ve added a bit too much colour to the room? Do you like chalk paint or, like us, do you find it overrated?
Jo says
Love the bright colours and I agree I much prefer a satinwood finish to a shabby chalky finish. Also less work involved using satinwood paint.
Christine says
Thanks, Jo! We really love how the chairs turned out. They’ve moved home with us 3 times now and still look great, too!
Cx
Irina Zane says
Hi Christine,
I have my kitchen chairs painted in the exact same colours from Habitat as you do, but I have to keep retouching them, which is driving me mad, as I have never applied a varnish or wax on the chairs and they get used daily.
What varnish did you use with the Habitat paint. I have recently bought some Clear varnish which turned quite yellowy/brownish on my newly painted table.
Irina
Christine says
We used some of the Granwax Aquathane varnish that we had left over from varnishing our floors. It’s completely clear and hasn’t yellowed at all. So far we’ve not had any chips in the paint either. We have also used this floor varnish in the past which was completely clear. It’s super annoying to have to repaint things, but a protective coat of varnish should help.
Cx
Irina Zane says
Thanks Christine. I will try to source that varnish. I should have done this a long time ago ((-:
Irina
Christine says
No problem! I think that any hard wearing varnish will do (although we are happy with the ones we’ve used).
Cx
Joolee says
Hi,
I just love what you have done with those chairs!
I am always on the lookout for some great (and cheap-ish) antique chairs (etc) in Manchester and so far I’ve had only limited success- (Antiques Village and ebay mostly). Do you have any recommendations?
Thank u x
Christine says
Thanks, glad you like them! We actually picked up our chairs at the Antiques Village (they do currently have 4 more similar ones there). We also like to regularly check Old Mill Antiques in Failsworth. Other than we don’t know many more either. I guess it’s just a case of keeping a regular eye out for things that you want… it’s easier said than done though!
Cx
Laura says
I have the exact same chairs, also beech…8 of them! I’ve been thinking about painting them since I got em off eBay last Septemberbut have never taken the plunge in fear I’d get it all wrong and regret it. But you’ve re-inspired me :) Also I’m so glad you said Annie Sloan is overrated! I’ve been wondering if I should use it for the chairs so I bought a little sample pot and painted a small shelving unit with it and was confused to find that the finish was not at all what I expected after hearing so many people rave about it. Definitely not using it now as it sounds like it wasn’t my fault but the paint! I would really like to know what paint you used and did you mix the colours yourself? x
Christine says
I’m very jealous – still looking for four more! The paint we used for our chairs is by Habitat (and is available at Homebase). We only used a tester pot per chair which made it fairly affordable. The colours we’ve used so far are Kingfisher, Hibiscus, Banana and Leaf. The tin said that the paint is suitable for wood, but I personally think that you’ll have to apply a coat of varnish to seal it all. We didn’t bother with a primer first, but looking back it’s probably not a bad idea.
Happy painting!
Cx
Jude says
LOVE these!! We’re also not fans of shabby chic. Each to their own of course but in our house it’s known as shabby shit. ;-)
Christine says
Haha, love that, Jude! I think it’s going to be shabby shit here now, too!
Cx
Magali@TheLittleWhiteHouse says
I love what you did with the chairs! I also have shiny beech chairs in my dining-room and I intend to paint next summer. I wanted to go with the same colour slightly deluted for each chair to be slightly different, but you may make me change my mind! If you don’t like the shabby look Annie Sloan paint gives, just now that it adheres very well on almost anything so I use it as a primmer and then paint with anything I want. She may sue me for saying so, but it works great!
Christine says
Thanks Magali! I still have a load of chalk paint lying around, so I’ll definitely give it a try as a primer! Thanks for the tip!
Cx
caitlin says
Love these! They look great. Absolutely hate that shabby chic look, but sadly many Americans are still embracing that Rachel Ashwell style. I find white and cream chalk paint cringe-worthy, with all the fake distressing but do like furniture painted matte but only in black. Your paint job looks very professional, btw. -Caitlin
Christine says
Thanks Caitlin! It seems like the whole world still loves the shabby chic look, but we’ve never really been fans. I love the idea of matt black furniture!
Cx
Julia says
they are fab love them, I’m going to do that with my patio furniture and my kitchen chair x
Christine says
Thanks Julia! In these grey months we could all do with a bit of colour in our lives.
Cx
Stacey @ dohiy.com says
The chairs are terrific! Well done!
I haven’t tried chalk paint because I’m kind of contrary when it comes to trends, and because it usually involves shabby chic stuff, which is not our thing (as you say, it comes out more shabby than chic). There’s a lot of shabby chic on Pinterest, and my non-scientific observation leads me to believe that, in the states at least, the people looking for stuff like the “perfect chippy paint finish” tend to live in newer builds. If they had to deal with ACTUAL chippy paint all over their houses, they might not find it so appealing!
Christine says
Haha, you’re so right! I’d not even thought about it, but our house has more than enough paint to last me a lifetime without purposely adding more.
Cx
Cindy says
I haven’t really understood the chalk paint craze either, I put it in the same category as all the owls. Not for Me. I love, love, love the colorful chairs! I haven’t painted anything bold like that in a REALLY long time. Other than a yellow buffet in my living room, I’ve painted every other piece of furniture black.
I did just paint the ceiling in my girls room bright blue that I love though. http://cindyriddle.blogspot.com/2014/01/free-paint-showdown.html
Christine says
Your ceiling looks fab, Cindy! It adds so much character to the room. I guess that’s why we like our colourful chairs.
Cx
Jen says
They look ace. I sometimes think about painting our kitchen chairs but should probably paint the walls first. I’m not a fan of chalk paint either; we recently did a pine wardrobe white, it took four coats and it still looks patchy. I agree that it’s good if you want that shabby chic look, but I don’t think I’ll be using it again.
Christine says
Thanks Jen! Glad we’re not the only ones that think chalk paint is overrated – it seems like Blogland has gone mad for the stuff.
Cx
KarenAnita says
I love them! And you’re right they do look professional ;) I think the colours really complement what is on your shelves too!
I’m working on a dresser with Chalk Paint at the minute and quite like it. It’s the wax afterwards that I struggle with :( xx
Christine says
Thanks! Yep, I found the wax difficult to work with, too. Can’t wait to see your finished dresser though!
Cx