Painted Shabby Chic from mass produced dining chair : eBay Guides

Since starting on ebay I have become a huge fan of painted French/Scandinavian style furniture - it's just so pretty. But it seems hugely expensive. So I've started producing my own. It's great fun & very creative.

I start with a dining chair, one with curvy legs and a curvy back and maybe with something flowery cut into the woodwork. A chair that has some pretty features. It is likely to be varnished & the upholstery needs attention and the style is unfashionable now. These are often on sale on ebay. Sturdy chairs, well worth "reviving".

I strip them using a TACK LIFTER & a PIN HAMMER. This is hard work because hundreds of staples are used to attach the soft fabric to the frame in modern furniture. This is a laborious & dirty task.

If the webbing is still taut I leave it in-tact. If the foam from the seat is not falling apart I save it for later otherwise I buy 2" foam and cut it to shape using my sewing scissors and the original foam as a template. The seat back is usually buttoned so I throw this away after using it as a template on a new piece of 1" foam.

I then rub the chair down with a piece of sandpaper. The amount of work done here is apparent in the quality of the paintwork finish.

At this point I may use a can of white spray primer (£6 from a DIY shop) on each chair, followed by a can of  'antique white' or grey spray paint ( another £6 from a DIY shop) . Both are applied in several thin layers, each layer being allowed to dry before the next is applied. Spray paint gives a good finish quickly but it is expensive. This is a good method for the inexperienced furniture painter.

Alternatively tins of primer & good quality eggshell can be used with a brush but here one needs experience to apply the paint evenly & smoothly - this is much easier now with the water based acrylic eggshell paints on the market. I prefer this method now because it is cheap and the paint can be used for several projects.

If I have discarded the original webbing I attach new webbing to the seat using a WEBBING STRETCHER, TACKS & the pin hammer. I attach Hessian to the seat using a staple gun or tacks on top of the webbing and on top of this I put the foam. I put a sheet of wadding on top of the foam and then a sheet of calico which I stretch & attach to the frame, using tacks, in the way the original cover was put in place.

The chair back is done in a similar way to the seat but no webbing or Hessian is used, a piece of top fabric being attached using a staple gun or tacks to the back frame facing outwards, before adding the layers as for the seat (see above).

Finally the top fabric is attached to the frame over the calico using tacks which are then covered with braid or gimp using glue & gimp pins.

Any knocks to the paintwork during upholstery are sanded down & paint re-applied or you may like to leave some bare wood to add to the shabby chic look.

This process is labour intensive & the materials probably cost about £25 but the end product is very satisfying.

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