Antique Chair Makeover for an Office

The chair apparently spent the last 50 years in the attic of an old garage. 

It was dry, chipped, and dirty, and there were several more to be had. 

My daughter picked one for me and one for her. 

I thought long and hard about painting it or not but the finish on the back was pretty damaged so I went with painting. 

The first thing I did was to remove the seat that was falling off and clean the chair with a furniture cleaner. 

I always use Krud Kutter. 

I am trying to use up my stash of paint from the basement and I was looking for a bright color for my office/classroom so I went with this green chalky paint from DecoArt. 

I flipped the chair over on the table in my workshop and got to work. 

I painted the bottom of the chair first then flipped it back to paint the top. 

Like I said, the wood was dry so the paint soaked right in. 

I gave it two quick coats and wasn't too concerned about the coverage because I have plans to sand the edges and distress it a bit. 

While I waited for the paint to dry I checked my fabric supply for a piece I could use to cover the seat. 

I had an old piece of a Pottery Barn ironing board cover that would be perfect. 

I always save things I like to reuse them again. 

I also had a piece of recycled insulation that comes with those meals you can buy online. 

I just knew it would be good for something one day. 

I took the insulation out of the bag then traced the chair seat and cut it out. 

I've never seen this insulation before, it looks like dryer lint. (and maybe it is)

I cut the ironing board fabric to size then stapled it with a staple gun under the seat. 

This ironing board cover is going to look awesome on the chair and the lettering is perfect for my office/classroom. 

I distressed the edges of the chair with sand paper to give it a worn look and bring out the beauty of the old wood.  

The last thing I did was to give the chair a coat of wax. 

I usually use this creme wax by DecoArt on chalky paint. 

I rubbed it all over the chair with a rag, you could see the color deepening as I applied. 

Before the wax dried I used this old shoe brush to buff the wax to a beautiful shine on the chair. 

You can read more about this process over at this post when I redid a beautiful old dresser. 

Now it was time to attach the chair seat to the frame with small L brackets. 

I just love the green with this black and white fabric. 

I am really happy that this old chair found its way to my house today. 

It didn't take me long to turn it into the perfect desk chair. 

Thanks so much for visiting! 

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