DIY Tutorial: Spray-Painting Chairs

Remember two weeks ago when I showed you two different colored chairs, here? The first looked something like this:

And I had sprayed the other with a bit of brown. The idea was to test whether or not Mr. K and I liked the dark brown better than the red. (Ok, Ok. We knew it would be better than the red, but did we actually LIKE it.) And the verdict was a resounding yes. So, I commandeered the dining room chairs out to the garage where they've been a work-in-progress for the last two weeks.

They are finished and have been returned to the dining room safe and sound. Must say, they look so much better. Maybe like two actual adults own them. But, it doesn't really help that room look put together at all yet. Much work still needed. But, it's a step! Totally, a step in the right direction.....just with my more steps to go.

And to those of you interested in spray-painting your dining room chairs (or any wood furniture really) here are my directions/steps.

First, using a rough grit (I used 80 grit) sand paper, rough up your chairs. You want to be pretty thorough as this step helps create a surface for your paint to stick. Since our chairs were already so beat up, this process went pretty quickly. You don't need to remove all of the stain/paint that is already on your furniture, but you want to get some of it up.

I thought this look was actually quite pretty, but not what we were going for. 

After going over it with a course sand paper, I went over it once more with a finer sand paper. This time I used 150 grit. The idea with the second pass is make sure the wood is still nice and smooth. I found that specifically the seat was just a bit corse to the touch after the other sand paper. Next, with a damp cloth, wipe down the whole piece to get any dust and grit on your furniture.

Next step is to prime your piece of furniture with a spray-paint primer. I used Velspar Prime anything in White. I followed the direction, making sure to do this in an extremely well ventilated area. I found the primer to be VERY stinky. Remember with primer, it doesn't have to cover the piece completely and thoroughly. It's ok for it to be spotty. Primer's job is to help create an even better surface for your paint to stick to. This way, all your effort will last longer. I waited a full 24-hours for the primer to cure before spray-painting with the color of choice.

Now, it's time to spray paint your furniture! Again, make sure you're in a well-ventilated area. For my dining room chairs, I used Velspar's Mocha Brown in a flat finish. Starting with the seat part of the chair, I made sure to do thin even coats that over lap. It's ok if it doesn't cover completely in the first coat. I ended up doing about 3 coats, allowing for super even coverage with no drips. I waited at least 24 hours, between coats as the directions on the can says. At this point, you can be done. The chairs (or whatever piece of furniture you're doing) should look great. Even in color and completely transformed.

After the 3 coats of spray paint dried, I wanted to add extra protection to our chairs. I know we're not easy on our furniture and waited added wipe-ability to our chairs. After poking around online about what would be the best way to seal chairs, I chose to go with the Minwax Wipe-On Poly. Easier than having to brush all those coats or have to worry about little spikes from a roller; the wipe-on poly gets put on with a rag. It was super easy application. Hopefully it holds up.

To apply the poly, lightly sand the surface of your piece. I used 350 grit for this piece. You DON'T want to scratch up the paint at all, just make the tiniest 'roughness' to let the poly grab a good hold. Wipe down afterwards with a wet cloth. To get started, shake up your poly, simply pour a bit out onto an old cloth and start rubbing. Since I could still see the wood grain ever so slightly, I stayed in the direction of the wood. I was surprised at how little went a long way. Remember you don't want heavy coats of poly, but again, rather thin coats. I'd suggest wearing rubber gloves at this point if you don't want to end up with a mess of poly dried to your hands too. 

I did another 3 coats of the rub-on poly. I waited two or three hours between coats, always sanding before wiping down and then applying a new coat. After the third coat, I let them sit for 24 hours for a full cure before bringing them inside the house. 

What do you think?

A marked improvement, no? Still got a long way to go before I feel like any room in this house might even be close to being finished. But, it's about the journey, not the destination. Check out a close up of nawed edge of the chair liked I showed you here. Not perfect, but much, much better.

What do you think? Anyone got ideas or tips for painting that table? I think that's the next piece of furniture for a DIY make-over.  Mr. K. thinks to paint it brown like the chairs, but leave a strip of the light wood color as a border.... Really not sure about that. No real ideas yet. Suggestions?

I LOVED linking up on Friday. It was a ton of fun to hop along to some of the other blogs (although I didn't get time to do it until Saturday AM). Thanks for all the new love and support I got from it. I thought I'd try a couple for today. Enjoy!