Cane. Anyone else loving the cane they are seeing in future? As soon as I saw these 1970’s chairs I knew I had to upcycle them. You know my favorite colour! Black. Rust-Oleum has a Flat Black paint, that gave these chairs a modern look. Let’s take a look at how I upcycled these chairs. The steps are simple but the time is definitely an investment.
TOOLS:
- Screwdriver (one for the chair screws and one to remove staples on the seat)
- Small container or bag for screws
- Sandpaper or Hand Sander
- Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Flat Black Paint
- Paintbrush (the flat black paint recommended using a paint brush instead of a small roller)
- Black Velvet Material
- Staple Gun
STEP 1: Take the chair apart
Before you can start with this chair transformation you need to take the seat off the frame. Use your screwdriver to take out the screws under the seat. I labelled a small bag with chair screws, so I kept everything in the same place. If you don’t have a workshop, simply lay a blanket on your kitchen table.
STEP 2: Sand the chair
Whether you are going to paint or stain a piece of furniture you need to sand. I would recommend a hand sander if you have one or you might be here a while. Using the electric sander saved so much time! You can see the difference once I sanded off most of the orange stain.
STEP 3: Paint the chair
Before you start painting, make sure you wipe off your chair and there is no dust. You want to paint in a well ventilated area or outside. Make sure the temperature is not to hot or cold, and follow the recommendations on the label. I used the Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Flat Black paint. After I let the paint dry for a day I applied a second coat. I unfortunately do not have a photo of this step as it was cold outside and snowing so had to use our storage room!
STEP 4: Remove the material off the seat
Or in this case remove THREE layers of material. One of the previous owners had recovered the seat and so had someone else. Leaving me with three layers to get off of the seat cushion. It took a little while but totally worth it. The foam was in decent shape, two of the cushions seemed to have a thinner foam so I added some batting. I did this step while watching a movie! Best way to DIY.
STEP 5: Cut your material and staple
I didn’t make an exact template for the chair I simple cut about 3 inches around the seat. This gave enough room to staple and trim after. I wanted the corners to look professional and I feel in the past when I have tried to recover a seat, it never quite looked finished. I found this great video on YouTube and it’s such a simple way to create a professional looking corner. This made the velvet sit really nicely on the corners.
STEP 6: Put the chair back together
Once your chair is painted and seats covered, all you have to do is put the two pieces together with the screws you saved from the beginning.
What do you think? I am really happy with how this upcycled turned out. It shows how easy it is to bring new life to something old. Plus this is a budget friendly way to update your dining chairs. Do you have a piece of furniture in your home you no longer like or could use a splash of colour? Check out Rust-Oleum’s full line of products to see what is right for your next upcycle.
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