House of Hawthornes

Garage Sale Chair Gets A New Look

By 33 Comments

Last weekend I bought this chair at a garage sale. It was really banged up, but was only $3.00 and since it had good bones I felt it could be a good rehab candidate. Sort of the Lindsay Lohan of chairs.
It had a cute flower detail on the top.


And some really cruddy, really dusty and sort of disgusting fabric on the seat. We don’t even want to think of how many derrieres have sat on this.


I originally was conflicted as to whether I should refinish its wood stained finish or just paint it, but when I attempted to refinish a small portion of it I realized that this was not a real antique and was made of three different types of wood. I didn’t think it would refinish well, so I went ahead and brought out my paint.

I yanked the seat off of it and applied Krud Kutter’s Pre-Paint Cleaner to degloss the finish.


When that dried, I applied one coat of Rust-Oleum’s Painter’s Touch Ultra Coverage white primer


and followed that up with two coats of Rust-Oleum’s Ultra Coverage Heirloom White satin paint.


I decided to use the Heirloom White again because I wanted to match another piece in my living room. Besides, you can’t go wrong with off-white.


I then distressed it and applied Minwax’s Golden Oak stain over the paint to warm up the off-white a little and highlight the flowers.


The original seat was a little hard so I added a little more padding to it and then recovered it with a new fabric (after I got rid of all that old nasty fabric that was on there – three different layers of somewhat questionable fabric choices).


And here is the finished product.


It now matches my table that I re-did a few weeks ago.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  6. NanaDiana

    Great job Pam. I love the color choice and the way you finished both pieces. And…I gotta tell you-as much as I love the table and chairs I just adore the fact that your kids have a train running through there. It warms my heart to see people living in the “real world”~

    Reply

  7. [email protected] Salvaged Treasures

    Hi, I saw the word “garage sale” and just had to visit. What a fantastic bargain and it looks so much better….so fresh. It looks great with the table. I hope you get years of use out of it.

    Reply

  11. Shelia

    Hi Pam! Oh, I love how your chair turned out! You did good. Now is that a little train I see under the chair? 🙂
    Be a sweetie,
    shelia 😉

    Reply

  19. Nellie's Cozy place

    what a beautiful swan from that ugly duckling chair. I love the floer carved on the top of the chair and the painting technique you used really enhances that!! it is really beautiful!!
    Blessings, Nellie

    Reply

  23. Debbie

    Banged up no more girlfriend! Love this chair makeover….i want to go find a chair now…the one I am sitting on is wearing out! Thanks so much for joining in. Debbie

    Reply

  24. Pam @ diy Design Fanatic

    Fantastic makeover! You’re right, the chair does have good bones and it looks so wonderful now! Great job!!!

    Reply

  29. Anita @ GoingALittleCoastal

    Such a cute chair and the flowers show up so well now. It looks great with that table. Love the legs on it.

    Reply

  30. The Polka Dot Closet

    I love the chair lets hope Lindsey does as well…she has good bones too! LOL I am visiting from Debbiedoos.

    Carol

    Reply

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