Thrifty Finds: Dining Chairs - The Reveal!

Let's take a trip down memory lane, back, back WAAAY back to when I got four of these chairs for $50. The caning and overall structure of the chairs was in good condition, they just needed a little love. So here's what I did after removing the cushion for re-upholstering, which you can read how to do here.
1. Scuff sanded the chair with fine grit sandpaper (220+)
Note: The first chair was my "tester", and I actually broke out my power sander to get all the finish off. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT do this. I wound up over-sanding, and the wood, as a result looks splintery and dried out. Not pretty. All the previous finish does not need to be removed, you only need to give the new paint something to stick to. Hence, the scuff sand. See, friends, we are learning together. 

2. Wipe down with a clean dry rag, then a clean damp rag, and then a different clean dry rag to get all the dust off.

3. Now it's time for spray paint. I used Rustoleum's "Heirloom White", and for this particular project, I wound up using about 1 can per chair per coat, if you can fathom that. If your chair has detail that you want filled in, follow my "Tips for Detail Work" Below. When spraying, make sure you use a smooth back-and-forth motion and work about 10 inches away from the surface you're painting to avoid drips. AND WEAR A MASK- This stuff is nasty and you don't want to inhale it.

Tip for Detail Work: Keep several sizes of craft brushes on hand, so that you can get into crevices and detail work before spray painting. To do this, I simply sprayed the spray paint into its own cap and then used that paint to do the detail work. 


4. Wait for the first coat to dry and then go over any necessary areas with very fine grit sandpaper (300/400). Do this lightly as you don't want to strip the paint, you just want to smooth it out. Remove any dust with a rag.

5. Re-coat if needed and allow to dry completely

6. For the finishing touch, I used Minwax wipe-on Poly. I find this is a great thing to use for things with a lot of different curves and surfaces, since you just wipe it on with a clean rag. I was worried that it would be tacky and gloppy, but it went on very smooth. I find it works even better if you go top/down, instead of working against the grain. And when all is said and done, you wind up wiiiiith....