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| The old patio chair before and after the renovation. |
My great-step-grandma’s treasures have inspired me again! This week my inspiration came in the form of an old patio chair. There are about four of these chairs and a matching table sitting on my back patio, but they are all horribly dirty, and unused. Before renovating this chair I had only one very small loveseat in my living room. My boyfriend and I could barely fit on it while trying to watch TV, but there was no other furniture and nowhere to even stretch our legs. The shape of this chair is adorable and I hoped that with a little cleaning and painting, it could add more lounging space to my living room.
This whole project cost about $13 total. A new chair like this could cost any where from $80-$100(here is a similar one from Target), and the bleached pillow that I threw in was actually most of the $13 cost.
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| My supplies: chair, spray paint, bleach, spray bottle, fabric and pillow. |
Supplies:
1. Old Lawn Chair: FREE!
2. Black Satin Finish Krylon Spray Paint: $2.98(Walmart)
3. Bleach: $0.99
4. Spray Bottle: $0.99
5. One Yard Fabric: $1.99 (Walmart)
6. Plain White Pillow: $5.99 (Joann)
The chair before, during and after the spray paint job.
The chair was filthy, so the first thing I did was hose it down to get rid of all the dust and cobwebs. After it was clean I began to spray paint. Satin finish is somewhere between glossy and matte, I thought this would match some of the furniture I already have in my home like my black bookcase. Spray painting was more difficult than I expected, I had to do about three coats before the black appeared as dark as I wanted it. The finished chair looks cool. The paint isn’t completely solid, so it gives it an unfinished edge, which adds character to the piece.
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| The pillow! Taping the design, cutting off excess fabric, sewing badly and the finished product. |
This pillow was a challenge! I actually ended up making two, because I was so unhappy with how the first one turned out. I was inspired to work with bleach from a post at Under the Sycamore. Working with bleach is tough, especially when you’re someone who just started doing your own laundry (sad, but true). My original pillow was black, which I had no idea bleaches to orange! So it looked like it came straight from a Halloween shop. My second pillow I love, the periwinkle fabric bleached a gorgeous color. The fist step for making this pillow was choosing a design. I cut out a "T" (for travel) and taped it down on the fabric, then I put on gloves and poured bleach into the spray bottle. Next, I lightly sprayed around the "T." The bleach starts working right away, once I was happy with the color I rinsed the fabric in the sink and put it in the washing machine. Sewing the fabric over the pillow was really simple. I’m not a good seamstress and didn’t have to pretend to be. All I did was wrap the fabric around the pillow inside-out, then cut the excess fabric off the sides. I hand sewed a quick stitch down each side of the pillow, and then removed it. Last I turned the fabric right-side-out and put it back on the pillow. The finished pillow is adorable, and I didn’t have to be good at sewing to make something that looks cute and personalized.
My new chair has opened up new sitting space in my living room. Sometimes I even use it as an ottoman because of its height; it’s nice to lie down and finally get to stretch out my legs. This project has taught me skills that I may use on other projects in the future. I love the effects of spray paint and bleached fabric. Using these materials can make furniture look hip and young, while sticking to a college budget. Their unfinished effect can make anything appear rough around the edges.
Me sitting on my chair with the original halloween pillow. Do you know what I did with the extra fabric? Check out my headband!!!
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