Gold Dipped Beauty {Vintage Chair}

If you know me by now, you know that my number one go-to to change up a space is PAINT. And if you don't know me, you will soon learn this about me. So, with that being said, it probably won't come as a surprise that I decided to paint a vintage, second hand chair that I scored for super cheap. Now, full disclosure, I didn't originally intend to paint this chair. In fact, I was kind of hoping that I didn't have to paint it. My original plan was to just reupholster it, but as I was working on it, it became clear that I needed to paint the thing (more on that later). And let me tell you- everything happens for a reason, because I am soooo happy with the way that it turned out!

So, first things first, this guy desperately needed to be reupholstered. It was stained pretty badly, and as much as I tried, I wasn't successful in getting it out. Just look at that poor guy. Such a gorgeous piece, but it really needed some love. So, reupholster it I did. If you are wondering how I reupholstered it, you are in luck, because I happen to have a blog post on reupholstering that you can find here. This piece in particular was a little tricky, because I wasn't able to remove the cushions. Still totally doable though- just had to spend a little more time with cutting the fabric. The piece of trim around the outside of the fabric hides the staples, and that was simply adhered with a hot glue gun.

As for the wood itself, as I said earlier, I didn't really intend to paint this entire piece. Once it was reupholstered, though, I knew that the wood needed a little refresh, so refresh I did. I actually wanted to keep the caning unpainted, but because of the design of the chair, it just wasn't in the cards. So I ended up painting the entire thing, and I actually think that it makes more of a statement this way. The paint that I used was Behr chalk paint (carried at Home Depot), and this is definitely my favorite chalk paint that I have used (and I'm no stranger to chalk paints). I like the consistency and quality of this paint, and I also love that you can tint it to any color you'd like at any Home Depot {Speaking of Home Depot, click here for a special offer of free 2-day delivery on thousands of different items... Score!}. But anyways, back to the chair at hand... This particular color is called "cracked pepper," and I have used it in a couple of places in my home, so I highly recommend.

As far as applying the actual chalk paint, you can find some more guidance on that here. When working with chalk paint, you do not have to sand. I always recommended to sand before you paint, but chalk paint happens to be quite thick, and adheres to surfaces well. In this case, I actually didn't sand. This piece won't get a whole ton of tush traffic, so I was fine with rolling the dice a bit (I really like to live on the edge). But as always, do as I say and not as I do, and maybe give your pieces a very light sanding before you slap that paint on, because I would hate for your chalk painted furniture to end up all chipped because of me. And you don't need a primer either, but for those dipped legs (oh you KNOW I didn't forget about the dipped legs), I actually used the chalk paint as a primer itself. I used acrylic paint here, and that type of paint will not adhere as well to the treated wood (hence the primer). I taped those off and used a brush to paint those, but I think they are the perfect finishing touch! Make me do a little happy dance in my head every time I see them.

Making a piece of furniture custom in this way is one of my favorite things ever. It gives me such a feeling of accomplishment to know that there is no other piece exactly like this, and that's because I created it. So, I encourage you to do the same. A friend of mine recently compared the "DIY high" to the "Runner's high," and she was spot on. It is quite a feeling to look at something in your home and think, "Wow, I did that." So get out there people and get your DIY on! If I can do this, so can you.