***Since this post, there is now this fantastic paint and primer paint I’d recommend!!
This winter I decided it was time to do a major overhaul to the lower level family room at ‘Our House’.
Part of that change was completely flipping around, from one side of the room to the other, the TV viewing area, which now left ½ of the room basically empty. In that empty part, I had plans for a game table and chairs, (and will be installing a wet-bar soon too… future posting alert!)
When I started shopping for game tables, I decided I liked the vintage ones better, so I focused my shopping on Craigslist…
The chairs needed to have casters for easy moving on the carpet. I wanted something that was a project, so I could inject my own personality into the finished look. And I didn’t want anything that was too big… or too small… but just the right size… I guess it was kind of like Goldilocks looking for a game table set… But I found it on Craigslist and it was perfect. After a treacherous drive to the other side of the cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) on what started out to be good roads, but quickly turned bad, we scored this set…
Oh sorry, I, in my excitement to inject personality to the set, completely forgot to take a single picture of it before!
Imagine a 1980’s golden oak with brown vinyl seats… that’s it.
So just to keep this post from getting obnoxiously long, I’m going to concentrate on the chair re-do today and the table re-do next post.
This wonderful houndstooth fabric was my inspiration. I special ordered it from JoAnn Fabrics. It’s dark chocolate brown with a light cream. This is the perfect look for the seats, to accomplish my desired style in this space… sort of a ‘Pottery Barn meets Ralph Lauren meets a 1900’s boy’s club’.
Then I hemmed and hawed a lot trying to decide what color to do the chairs (and table as you’ll find out later) I was almost sure I was going to paint them a blue-ish color. One that would compliment my aqua accent for the room, like in the DIY canning jar chandy I made that actually hangs over this game table set. But, reminding myself that aqua blue in the accent, and should be 10% or less of the over all color of the room, and that I wanted most of this room to be very, very neutral, to play down the wallpaper I had decided to keep up, and black was one of those neutral color… so with all that being said… I painted the chairs black:
Ha, no I know this isn’t black, this is the primer coat, then: ***Since this post, there is now this fantastic paint and primer paint I’d recommend!!
This is the black, in a nice satin finish. This Krylon spray paint covered very well and seems very durable thus far.
Then for some fun personality, I created oval shaped numbers on PowerPoint and printed them out on plain white paper, then with Mod Podge, applied them onto the inside backs of the chairs.
That way, in case anyone forgets which is their seat, hopefully the numbers will help them out a bit. Actually, I don’t know why I like numbers on things, but I do, and the chair backs seemed the perfect place for numbering.
And remember how I said the chairs must have casters? Well I added these handles on the back of each chair for pulling them out, and for a handsome little accent. (I had to special order these handles from Van Dyke’s because I couldn’t find any place that had the bin pulls with this style, so that the screw would really go into the back, and not have to come out from the front.)
Here’s my ‘new’ chair, full of personality.
I did a super quick recovering of the seats, no welting, just one easy seam in the two front corners and then folded and tucked around the curved back and glue gunned to hold it.
I now love the set… and I’m excited to show you the ‘personality’ the table has, you can read about it here… I really had to think hard to connect all the colors together for it.
Please feel free to follow and share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest, Flipboard, Bloglovin etc… the more the merrier! And don’t forget to follow SimpleDecoratingTips.com on YouTube too! I appreciate you stopping by.
MaytagNMom says
Great chair redo and I also popped over via your link to see the need jar chandy too- very cute! Way to go!
Craft On & dance like no one else is watching 🙂
Visiting from Overflowing With Creativity @ It’s Overflowing linky party
Smiles,
Suz @MaytagNMom
NW Illinois
My Party Project This Week
Kirsty says
I loooove the handles!!! That is one special touch! Never seen it done like that before. Love it.
Suzan says
Just beautiful – love the handles on the backs – and the numbers !!!
Visiting from Shabby Creek Cottage
Hugs,
Suzan
creativehomeexpressions says
Great chairs! Love how they turned out in the black and that fabric is great. Love the numbers on the backs, too. Very smart to get casters for the chairs. I’m sure that makes it a lot easier to pull those chairs out.
Sherrinda Williams Ketchersid says
Wow! Those are amazing! I can’t wait to see more of the table!
mishelle says
Love the whole set!
Lori Lehman says
Those chairs look great!! What clever cool details!! I am going to pin these they are so cool!! Have a great day! Lori
Sarah Yoder says
These are amazing! I love to see before and after furniture makeover! The handles on the back are a great idea…I am pinning these! I’m visiting from the Something I Whipped Up link party…come by and check out my blog sometime! 🙂 http://www.linleyhouse.com
DecorateWithaLittleBit.com says
Thank you Sarah for visiting and for pinning!
Kelly at View Along the Way says
Oh wow Those chairs were such a cool shape to start with, but I love the houdstooth with the black finish. Beautiful! Thanks for linking up to Monday Funday!
Mindi says
These look amazing! You really did a fabulous job! Thanks for your sweet comment on my blog! If you are looking for a cutting machine, I would go with the Silhouette! I know you would love it!
Andi says
These are fantastic! Excellent work!
-andi
Susan @ sunflowerhugs.blogspot.com says
I love everything you did. I don’t know which part is my favorite!
Marty@A Stroll Thru Life says
They look wonderful. I love the fabric and the black is so pretty. Great job. Hugs, Marty
Donnamae says
You did a fantastic job! Love the chairs! 😉
Holly says
Wow! I love the chair transformation – especially the idea of putting the bin pull on the back. Brilliant!