Ugly Chair: Before and After

If you have a chair like this then first let me apologize for calling it ugly. This isn't my style of chair, but it came with the furnished beach condo we bought, so I need to make it work until the budget allows for replacement. Other than not being my style, I think of it as ugly because the rattan finish was worn over the years and underneath was really dusty and dirty.

I had about half a day to work some magic on this chair during a recent visit to the beach. So many other projects were underway, but I wanted to squeeze out a little time to freshen up the chair. I vacuumed the chair (especially the bottom and underside), then gave it a good scrub with my favorite deglosser/degreaser (this is my preferred brand as it works amazing and it is a no rinse formula). 

Included here are links to the products I've actually used in this project:

The deglosser is no rinse, so after it was dry I appled a two coats of chalk paint. I have a lot of blues and greens in the living room, and wanted to balance it out with a few touches of yellow. So I used Marigold by Jolie Chalk Paint (the color equivalent in the Annie Sloan brand is Arles). 

After the paint was dry, I used a foam brush to apply a couple of clear coats of poly (I think the brand was varathane from Home Depot). While the paint was drying I steam cleaned the fabric cushion. I used a small steamer that I have for steaming clothes. I think a larger upholstery steamer would have worked better, but this is what I had available.

 

Overall it was a very quick and easy project:  1. Clean, 2. Paint, 3. Seal. Easy Peasy!

Well ALMOST done! It looked so much lighter and brighter (and cleaner!). But it was missing something . . .

So I purchased a comfy accent pillow with a casual beach vibe and it fits the chair perfectly!

And I must admit that I've grown fond of this chair now! It's still not my style, but the chair rocks a little and it swivels, which it did before, but now that I put a little of my own touch to the chair, it means a bit more to me. I swivel it towards the patio doors and watch the ocean while I sip my morning coffee.

Thanks for reading through the project and stopping by my blog.