You just can’t go wrong with black.  It is the perfect color for almost anything… including chairs.  I have found that one of my favorite pieces of furniture is a dining chair.  They make perfect accent chairs… they have great lines, they are a great size and they are really easy and cheap to find.  Can’t beat that! My latest revamp… an old dining chair given to me by my father-in-law.  I fell in love immediately… the lines, caning and legs… woohoo!!! It obviously just needed a bit of a makeover.  This is what I did…
I started by removing the cushion and taking the chair to the garage to paint.  I used Rustoleum American Accents spray paint in Canyon Black.  I only used about a half of a can on this chair and if you are considering painting your chairs I would ONLY use this brand… It’s the best!
While that was drying I started working on my cushion… I wanted something a bit less tailored and also decided to add a little burlap… why not??
This is my stencil brush and my Americana Ebony acrylic paint I used to do the stenciling.  I knew this would be an accent chair that won’t get much use so I used the acrylic.  If you will be using your chairs more often you will need to find a washable fabric paint to do your stenciling.
I cut out my stencils with my Cricut and positioned them on a 10″ square piece of burlap to get an idea of how it would look…
I used my stenciling brush to put the paint on… remember… up and down, not like a normal paint brush!
While this was drying I got to work on the rest of the cushion…
I will give a few details on the sewing but I know many of you don’t even own a machine so I will skip the tutorial:)  If you do want some extra tips, just leave me a comment.  I started by making my cording.  I decided the rest of my cushion would be made of a drop cloth.  I purchased a $5 drop cloth from Lowe’s for this project.  It is a perfect weight for this project and many others.  I cut a strip of the fabric and sewed it around some jute twine to make my cording.
After making my cording, I went back to my now dried burlap.  I cut a piece of drop cloth the shape of the cushion and layed it next to my burlap.  I used just a bit of spray adhesive to stick the burlap to the drop cloth.
This is what it looked like….
I used my machine to put a straight stitch around the burlap about 1/2 inch short of the edge.  I wanted it to look like a patch so I frayed up the edge of the burlap just a bit.
Here I have put the cushion cover together… skipping all of my sewing steps that don’t interest many of you:)
I distressed the edges of my chair just a bit and then just pulled the cover over the cushion.  Isn’t she cute??  I think this will be my chair for my work space up in my loft but for now I just took some random shots for you.  What do you think??  For those of you hesitating to paint your chairs… STOP:)  Just go for it!  You will look at the outcome and smile every time!!
Ashley and Whitney Blog post signature

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

51 Comments

  1. Love the ruffle! I really love the "w/o the hubby" button 🙂 That is the only way I make things :)–unless, of course, he pays to have it done. Then, I guess, it is "with the hubby" 🙂 Great job!

  2. I love this chair! Fantastic transformation. I would definitely use a chair like this as my desk chair. Love the little skirt you put on.

  3. Perfection! The black spray paint, the burlap, the stencil… I love every last bit of it. I stenciled numbers on the backs of our kitchen chairs and our (crude) little dinner time joke is to tease whoever gets the chair with 2 on it. We say "tee-hee, you're sitting in number 2" in our best second-grader voices. I love your #2 chair ; )

  4. Oh my gosh – I've just stumbled across your blog and love this chair. Rustoleum paints have only just arrived in the UK and I've been dying to try them out on something. Your chair if fabulous – well done!

  5. I'm (slowly) working on a slip cover for a chair of mine, and I really love the little box pleat detail. Storing that away for future use… 🙂

  6. I LOVE it! It doesn't even look like the same chair. It's perfect! Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving the nice comment. Yes, I think I do smile every time I look at my "new" armoire. I just love the way it turned out!! 🙂

  7. Wow! First I would like to thank you for visiting my little old blog and your kind comments. Now I would like to say, "wow"! Again. The ruffle just MAKES it – looks great!

  8. I love that skirted slipcover. That's EXACTLY what I want to do for my dining room chairs. I'm basic on the sewing machine, so I'd need a pattern or a tutorial. Anyone know where to find one?

  9. WOW! I love it. I think you've given me the needed push to tackle a chair that's been waiting for a makeover.

  10. Another black chair transformation. You two girls just keep on amazing me. Thanks for sharing yet another great project. I always impressed with what you two do. ~ Sarah

  11. WOW!!! That looks great! I am still finishing a chair project… Hopefully it will be done before your party!

  12. My dining set has almost those exact chairs. I, too, love the caning and the lines, but there is something about them that say, "I'm a 1970's French Provincial Reproduction." I'm planning to paint them white and make skirted slipcovers almost exactly like yours. It's great to see a happy ending for your chair. Good work!

  13. Oh goodness, I wish I could sew. Thank you for showing me a distressed 2 pieces of black furniture this weekend. And he's TOTALLY skeptical. I showed him this and he was like, "ohhhhhh…" Yeah!! Thank you tons. Please check out my blog, http://www.cherishscupoftea.blogspot.com. I will posting photos either tomorrow or Sunday. I might post two separate ones, if I do, one will be tonight or tomorrow morning.

  14. That's perfection, right there. So I have a sewing question….does your cover just go over the cushion, as in there's no zipper or anything right? What's it do in the back where the seat back hits the seat itself?

  15. That little skirt on your cushion cover takes it over the top! This looks so fantanstic. Great job, I love it!

  16. First of all, I love your blog!! The chair looks so great, did you have to sand it down before you spray painted it?