Uggggglee Chair Makeover

I have had this chair around the house for a couple of years now.  My brother salvaged it from a remodel at the Belmont Mansion in Nashville along with 3 others.  I have made over the others but this one had managed to escape. 

It was sitting in a corner in our master bedroom patiently waiting to be pretty.  I finally got around to giving it some TLC and trying my hand at making and using homemade chalk paint.

I used a 40% coupon at Michael's and purchased plaster of paris.  I also scored the fabric at Hobby Lobby for 40% off....yeah!

First The Nana and I recovered the seat.  With my new power nailer (love them, Wonder Hubby did good spending all that money for the big ole set of 5 of them!) the job was easy peasy.....10 minutes start to finish and she is purdy.

Then it was time to paint.  I was worried about how this would go, but I am so glad I gave it a try and didn't spend the big money on the commercial stuff :)

I marked off a mason jar with 4 equal marks 1 inch apart.  I filled up to the first line with plaster of paris then mixed water in a bit at a time, stirring until the mix was smooth.  After that I filled up to the 4th line with my paint and stirred it all up.

I found that initially it was very easy to work with.  It flowed on nicely and covered well.  After 15 minutes or so it did seem to "set up" and become more grainy.  I just dipped my paint brush into water then the mix and that seemed to work to even out the grainy texture.  After letting it dry I began the sanding process.  I LOVE this part!  I had to restrain myself from sanding it all off. 

After the sanding was all done I wanted to add a bit of age.  I had read on a blog to use Old English furniture polish/scratch repair but at $5.50 a bottle at the local grocery I was going to skip this part!  After thinking about it for a while and cleaning up a pot of tea that had dripped onto my counter instead of into the pot.....I realized if tea will stain the counter it should work on the chair.  Eureka.....I lightly rubbed a used tea bag over the whole chair and it left just the right amount of "age."

After aging and drying I waxed the old girl with some Johnson's Paste wax...and here she is all prettied up.   She will be a perfect spot for slipping on shoes, if only I can decide where she will live, hmmmm........

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