Vintage Chair Gets a Modern Look

Last Weekend, I came a across a cute little vintage chair at thrift store. I loved the lines of the vintage chair, and for $5 bucks I couldn't pass it up! I couldn't wait to take the chair home with me.

As you can see from the picture below the old stain on the chair was badly faded, and the chair seat was covered with really b-o-r-i-n-g fabric. I love little mid century modern chairs. 

Vintage Chair Shopping Tip: Always sit on the chair and test its comfortableness and sturdiness before buying 

Chair Frame: After removing the seat I sanded the entire down using a 80 Grit sanding pad on my power sander. After sanding the chair down with the 80 Grit sandpaper, and used a 220 fine grit sanding block {it helps leave a smooth finish on wood} 

Even though the chair is old, it has a nice sturdy frame. 

We have a basic black and decker sander, it works great on small and medium projects, we used this sander to refinishing our dining room table. 

Here's the chair after being sanded, a little on the old stain remained, but I now had a nice smooth surface to work with.

Then I wiped the entire chair down with damp cloth and mild soap to remove the dust. After allowing the chair to dry. I applied to coats for primer to the chair and lightly sanded, then lightly sanded the chair with a 220 fine grit sanding block. Here's how the chair looked after primed, it already started looking so much better.

I applied to coats of Breezy by Sherwin Williams and then applied one coat of Restualums Painters Touch. I allowed each coat to dry 24hrs before applying the next coat. I only applied one coat of cleat paint coat, because I didn't wait a super glossy finish.


The Seat: For the seat cushion I only needed 3/4 of a yard of fabric. I really wanted to find a fun modern brown print fabric for the seat. I found the perfect fabric from Calico Corners called Blossom Chocolate made by Thomas Paul for Duralee.  Here's a picture of the fabric I bought for the chair. 

Normally you have to order the fabric { they offer FREE shipping } but they had a bolt of fabric in store for 50% off - I only paid $ 10 bucks!. Since the fabric has a large scale print, I played with the layout determining where I wanted the design to lay. I used the old fabric has a template {just like I did with my bench} and then stapled the new fabric on the chair seat, and then reattached to the chair. The entire chair project cost around $ 15, I spent $5 bucks for the chair, and $10 bucks on fabric. I had left over paint from painting our dining room mirror, and love the color so I used that paint. It's the same color as our accent wall in our living room. 

For fun, I placed the chair in front our accent wall - love!

I'm actually taking this chair to my work to replace a boring chair I have in my office. Looking at this chair will brighten my day while working 9-5. What do you think of the modern look, I gave this chair?