Fun with spray paint

I have a love affair with spray paint and its ability to breathe new life into formerly sad, beaten down objects. Given my recent need for chairs at my kitchen table, combined with the desire to revive something old rather than simply buy something new, I decided to undergo a little furniture refinishing adventure.

The first subject (or victim, depending on your perspective) is a formerly old and rickety dining chair that I found at a local thrift store. (Old and rickety were the exact adjectives used by the sales lady when I asked about its price). For a whopping three dollars I brought home this beauty:

I know, calm down, pick yourself up off the floor. She's just too much to behold with her lackluster finish and garish red (and stained!) cushion. BUT, she had a great shape, and I knew that  new fabric and a coat of spray paint would free her inner fabulousness.

To start the process, I flipped the chair over to unscrew the seat, and it appeared that a former industrious chair-improver had filled the screw holes in with wood putty. I was incredibly disappointed, until I poked the putty with my screw driver and noted that it easily gave way. Elated, I gleefully scraped away the putty until I realized that it was actually some sort of cocoon and the biggest nastiest larva I had ever seen was now smushed all over my screw driver. 


(My apologies for not recording that discovery with some National Geographic quality photography. I know you must be disappointed). 


And guess what, this first larva had siblings in the three other holes I had yet to venture into. Sadly four little mystery larvae sacrificed their lives for the beauty of my dining room. 

Once all my nasty little friends were removed from the chair, and I and my screwdriver were thoroughly disinfected, I rubbed the chair down with alcohol. Normally I would use mineral spirits, but I was out, and determined to move to the spray painting stage quickly. I also skipped the sanding stage because the chair's finish was so old and broken down and didn't really have any spots that needed smoothing over. (The other chair I purchased will need sanding, but that is for a different post!)

I primed the chair with a spray primer and then painted it with two thin coats of Valspar Golden Maize, and then a couple thin coats of a spray sealer. After recovering the chair with some lovely outdoor fabric I found at Joann Fabrics, this is the result:

I think she's a much happier chair after her rehab. Total price: less than $20 (and four larvae, but how can you put a price on them??). The chair was $3 at the thrift store, fabric was less than $5 plus two cans of spray paint around $5 each.

I could get used to this thrifting thing. Minus the bugs.