Chair Redo

My great room redo started back in November, when I began turning Duncan's old bedroom into our office. First I painted the walls; I then painted an old lab table and spruced up a dresser. I've cleaned the carpets, added new curtains and a window bench, and started organizing the cabinets.

It was time for the chair.

I've had this chair since I was three years old. I distinctly remember bringing with us from Florida, where my grandparents lived, to New York in our dark blue station wagon. It was a gift from my grandparents to me, although why a chair seemed like an appropriate gift for people with 3 or 4 kids on an 800 mile trip, I have no idea. Anyway, I love this chair for its sentimental value. But it was in need of some loving. And so…


Here it is now! I got my inspiration from this painting, sold on Etsy. This was one of my first Pinterest pins, 36 weeks ago according to my board. (It takes me awhile to put ideas to use sometimes.)

First I painted the chair a soft antique white and sanded down a few edges for that distressed look. I found a bird-on-branch silhouette that I liked by googling, traced it on the chair, and painted it with plain acrylic paint.

Pinterest saved the day again with this link to "how to paint letters perfectly." Basically, you print out whatever you want to paint in the font that you wish, position and tape them where you want them, and then trace over the letters very hard with a ballpoint pen. The pen leaves an indentation, which you can see only on a bright, sunny day in front of a window, if you are like me.

If you look really hard, you can see the words on the section above the paper.

A tiny paintbrush and a steady hand are essential for this project. A kitten is not.

I could only do one line at a time because my hand got really cramped. But I'm kind of wimpy like that.

Also, I had to wait for the perfect light, and we've had many rainy days.


And that cat kept wanting to pounce on my paintbrush. But ultimately, I finished it. And I am sooooo very happy with the result!

My last step is to put a couple of coats of polycrylic on the seat, just to make sure the paint doesn't get rubbed off.

I'm getting closer to actually working in the office. Next up, the search for the perfect comfy chair.