In this blog post, I wanted to inspire you with how easily and affordably you can makeover a cane chair, or any chair for that matter. All it takes is some paint, some fabric and some time.
What You’ll Need:
- A chair
- Spray paint primer or paint and primer in one
- Paint
- Fabric
- Fine sandpaper
- Wood filler
- Painters tape
- Paint brush
For this ‘how to guide’ I used spray paint and regular acrylic paint, however you can also use chalk paint to makeover furniture. The advantages of this, is that you don’t have to sand or prime the furniture beforehand. To read how to paint furniture with chalk paint read my blog here.
STEP 1: The first thing you should do is to give the chair a very light sand with 180 grit sandpaper and fill any holes or damaged parts with some wood filler. Once the wood filler is dry, then lightly sand the filled areas.
STEP 2: Once the surfaces of the chair are smooth and free of damage, wipe the chair to remove all traces of dust. Now you’re ready to apply the primer coat of paint. I used Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover 2X in Flat White which is a paint and primer. I applied two coats to the finished cane areas, and one coat to the wood. I recommend this product as it creates a nice even finish in just two coats. You can buy it here from Amazon as a 6 pack. I used about two cans of spray paint to complete this chair.
STEP 3: Once the primed coat on the wood and finish coat on the cane are dry, you’re ready to mask the cane, and apply the finish coat of paint to the wood. I used Sherwin Williams Emerald Interior Acrylic Latex paint and color matched it to a grey I loved from our kitchen cabinets. However, you could also use the Rust-Oleum spray paint to apply the finish coat.
STEP 4: You should now have a completely painted chair, ready for new upholstery. I cheated here, as I don’t own a sewing machine any more. I took my fabric to a local sewing shop with the old cushion inner and they made a new cover for me for $50. But if you do have a sewing machine, it’s pretty easy to make a new cover. I chose a classic farmhouse ticking stripe fabric in grey and white from Best Fabric Store. However make sure to choose an upholstery grade fabric to make sure it’s suitable.
And that’s it! You now have a beautiful new cane chair!
As I mentioned, you can apply these steps to any chair you decide to makeover. It doesn’t have to be a cane chair. However, watch out for upholstered chairs with fixed cushions, as unless you’re skilled at re-upholstering, it won’t be a simple case of swapping out the chair cushion cover. So my tip is to look for loose cushion options to keep the costs down.
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Thanks for reading!
Until next time,
Jo
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