Before & After Chair Transformation

Hey party people!
I did something I’m regretting…big time. It was all for the sake of a party & I just had no idea what I was thinking! You’re probably wanting me to explain.
It all started with this beauty…

 

We had a sweet neighbor across the street that was probably in his 70s. He moved to California to be with his family and was such a great neighbor (side note: we now have more awesome neighbors that moved in…and they’re around our age). Before he moved, he gave us 4 folding tables and 8 folding chairs. He said they were his parents. They’re in great condition and I knew they were old but I kinda thought…eh…they’re just old card tables and chairs.

My goal was to create a chair transformation so they’d be pretty & white and I could use them for future showers and parties. (Specifically the Watercolor Baby Shower)

I accomplished that goal…however… when I finally researched this little tag on the chairs, I was mortified…

The folding chairs and card tables are not just old but they’re vintage! They have a table like we have selling for $100 on Ebay…that’s just for 1.

Maybe the only redeeming factor…okay I guess there are two redeeming factors. The first is that the shower looked beautiful with these white chairs and the second one is that at least I didn’t spray paint the tables.

If you want to makeover beautiful vintage chairs like I did, here are the easy to follow steps. & the materials you’ll need:

Steel Wool Pad 

Ratchet/Screwdriver (depending on how the seat is fastened)

Old Rag

Metal Primer

Metal Paint 

Vinyl (if recovering) 

This really is a simple project.

*First, you take off the seat then wipe down the entire chair so it’s clean.

*Next, take your steel wool pad and sand the entire chair.

*Wipe the chair down again. 

*Let the chair dry then spray a thin layer of primer all over. I had to be very patient on this step. It’s like painting my nails…I want to move to the next step if it’s even half-dry.

*Once you’ve sprayed 1-2 coats of primer & it’s dry, spray on your coat of regular metal paint. 

*I let mine dry overnight (after a mishap with one of the chairs) and it was perfect in the morning.

Now, the next step I didn’t take pictures of…soo sorry about that. It was in the midst of getting ready for the baby shower so it slipped my mind.

I really lucked out. I found  1 1/2 yards of white vinyl at my fabric store ON CLEARANCE for $6.99/yd. For 8 chairs, it cost me a little over $1.50 to recover them. I just used my staple gun to recover the original pad with my new vinyl.

Underneath that tablecloth? That’s one of the vintage card tables.

I really am glad with how they turned out but still feel like I may have made the wrong decision. What do YOU think? Should I have left them like they were or do you like how they turned out?

But now…the next time you come across folding chairs at the thrift store…know that you can turn them into beautiful visions of white…or whatever color you’d like. All it takes is a little time and elbow grease.

Got another fun project for you this Friday dealing with organization! 🙂

Until then…Party on!

p.s. This is YOUR official invite to the party… on the PartiesforPennies facebook page!  Click here.