My first chair makeover!

BEFORE: Just standard office/wait room chairs

My cousin Grace have the same exact pair.  She painted them white and reupholstered them which inspired to do the same.  Like most projects, prepping and sanding is the most tedious part but it had to be done.  I primed the chairs with my leftover Kilz oil-based primer (my favorite primer!) I had from the closet project, then I spray painted them.  It was a disaster!  I had burnt areas, and drippy marks.  So I had to sand again and spray paint.  I'm still getting bubbles and drippy areas. I had to try again - sand and paint.  It's still not perfect but better.  It was frustrating, but I had to convince myself to get over it and move on. 

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Stripped down chair, but not ready to paint yet. It's still shiny, needed more sanding.

Since spray-painting isn't my strongest ability, I had to sand and re-sand three times or four... Sorry I lost track.

In between painting or while waiting for paint to dry, I worked on the cushion.  All I used was 3 yards of outdoor fabric (from Fabric Mart), staple gun, scissors and plastic cover (from Walmart).  I measured the cushions and cut the fabric accordingly.  I placed the fabric over, and flipped it to staple.  Oh I got all staple happy!  That sucker isn't going to come off anytime soon.  Haha!  Since I thought about putting those chairs outside, I placed a plastic cover to protect them from weather.  (Glad I did! It drizzles almost everyday in Hawaii) 

Looking at my freshly painted & reupholstered chair, it felt like it needed something else --- like some FLARE! That's when I thought of monogram.  I printed patterns and tried to make my own stencil with an exacto knife.  Total failure!! It wasn't as easy as I thought. I still didn't give up on my monogram, that's when I decided to hand paint it. The worst thing that could happen is I screw it up, in which I've done that many times on this particular project.    I can just spray paint it again, right? Right!  

I traced my pattern with pencil, then used a small brush to paint the edge first.  I picked a paint brush small enough to hold it like a pencil.  My monogram turned out better than I imagined!

My very first chair makeover! So proud!

After countless trial and errors, I coated chairs with semi-gloss minwax.  I put another protective coat the following day.  I'm pretty stoked with the final product!  Somehow coffee, soda, tea and even cold water taste better when I drink it while sitting on my fabulous chairs! 

They're now by our doorstep saying Welcome!