DIY in an old house is never done! If you’re ever tempted to buy a ‘doer upper’ be aware of this.
Before Christmas, having celebrated our 11th year in this house in October, I finally got the hallway painted. I was determined to keep the DIY momentum going and was excited to be trying out the much read about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.
My first project for 2015 was re-covering and re-painting our ‘dining room’ chairs. In fact the chairs had originally been our kitchen chairs, but had got a new lease of life in the dining room some years back. They were desperately in need of a face-lift.
Renovating chairs
They are just your average melamine chairs, but everything I read said Annie Sloan Chalk Paint was the way to go. As luck would have it a local shop stocked the infamous paint and a colour was chosen, a pot of paint and wax was bought. (At the time of buying the paint I wasn’t aware that there were other chalk paint brands!).
Has anyone else used this paint?
The first thing I noticed about it, is that it has a different ‘move’ to it. There is almost a hesitancy to it as you apply it, but as you work away at it you get used to a different move. Two coats of paint were applied, and I was mightily impressed with the transformation.
Next it was apply the coating of wax. To be perfectly honest, I was kind of disappointed initially on applying the wax, it looked messy. I was advised to give it time and it will ‘settle’. And it did, and the wax does give the finished product a nicer feel. Yes, chalk paint, feels like chalk and powdery to touch.
Then it was time to head off to Athlone to find the fabric for the seats.
Fabric was purchased, and thank you so much to Daili Perez (who was visiting at the time) for the help with the re-upholstering.
I’m pleased with the outcome. Six nice clean, new looking chairs for under €70 🙂
A brand new chair 🙂
Now that I have the bug, I’m looking at other things in the house that could do with a brush up!!!!
A Year In Redwood 
Great job – I turned a job lot of assorted table and chairs into a new dining suite for the conservatory a few weeks back and like you had my doubts for a while, but the end result has proved worth it. However, when there was a recent half price sale in a Dublin store I invested in a wax brush for my next project. Expensive (very expensive) but it really does make a difference. Of course my nice “new” table is now under plastic and tomato seedlings………..
Kathryn…. I never even knew there was such a thing as a specialist ‘wax’ brush… will have to investigate further! Nothing in the house is sacred now, I keep eyeing things thinking that they could do with an update!
Absolutely lovely!!
Thank you Cynthia
I have a number of pieces awaiting Annie Sloan paint not to mention the upholster! Those chairs look great, well done.
I’ve just fallen in love with that last chair! Reckon there’s a side business there for you one day!
Oh how I wish 🙂
Good post!