Welcome to “Layer 3” of my dining room makeover!
If you missed them, check out Layer 1: “Chard” Walls & Black Brick Fireplace and Layer 2: Sunburst Medallion & Honefoss Mirrors.
I’ve been planning to paint my vintage Chinese chippendale chairs since I first got my hands on them right before Christmas, but I was a little daunted by the prospect of painting all that faux bamboo detailing. Can you say “spray paint trigger finger”? Ouch!
I was thrilled when HomeRight sent me their Finish Max Fine Finish HVLP* (affiliate link) paint sprayer to review, and even more thrilled with the outcome…
I have a SUPER detailed review/tutorial RIGHT HERE, never fear!
I’ll let the “after” photos speak for themselves today!
You guys might remember that I’ve been waffling between black chairs and white chairs for months – even as recently as two weeks ago, I hadn’t firmly made up my mind, although I was leaning towards black. Well, I’m so glad I went with black!
It’s just perfect with the leopard velvet fabric (Braemore Jamil Natural)…
Oh how I love that fabric!
I fell in love with the Scalamandre Leopardo velvet fabric (a mere $275/yard here on eBay) but – and this may be a huge surprise to you – I didn’t have $825 to spend on fabric. The Braemore Jamil fabric is a perfect substitute and I saved over $700.
(That’s how we look at it, right? If you buy the thrifty version instead of the extremely expensive one, you get to claim that you “saved” the difference…)
In other words, I spend less than $100 including shipping. Which is a huge splurge for me, fabric wise. But absolutely 100% undeniably and indubitably worth it, in my book.
Plus, and most importantly, this fabric is cat-tested and cat-approved.
Since there are already so many great chair recovering tutorials on the web, I won’t try to cover that here.
Suffice it say, this was not my first chair-covering rodeo (more like… sixth? Or seventh? I’ve lost count!) but it was every bit as frustrating as the others due to the inadequacies of electric staplers.
I actually got so fed up with the electric stapler that I switched to my hand-held one – and I have the bruised palms to show for it! (Stapler-hand-itis: a very real affliction that affects millions dozen of DIYers.)
One of these days, I’m going to get my hands on an air compressor and pneumatic upholstery stapler, which apparently are the real tools for the job. My two cents: if you’re considering investing in an (entry-level) electric staple gun, I’d recommend saving your money.
Still, bruised palm and all, I think it was worth it:
What you do you think of Layer 3? Were you team-black for the chairs or team-white?
Hop right over here for my step-by-step paint sprayer tutorial and review – I can’t wait to share my new-found knowledge with you guys! A huge thanks to HomeRight for making this post possible!
Disclosure: HomeRight provided me with their Finish Max paint sprayer to review, but all the opinions and words in this post are my own! I had already heard great things about the Finish Max paint sprayer, so I am beyond excited that HomeRight partnered with me on this project! I’m committed to only sharing products I really truly love (you can read my full blogging disclosure here), and this one fit the bill perfectly 🙂
um, yum. loverly.
Thank you Cassie! *hugs*
Love it all! Such fantastic modern touches and that fabric is awesome!
Angela @ Number Fifty-Three
Thank you Angela! I'm in such love with that fabric – I have about a quarter of a yard left over and I'm jealously hoarding it for a yet-to-be-decided purpose. I need it in every room of my house 😉
Gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS! I love everything you've done and can't wait for the next layer.
Thank you Jeannie! Me too 🙂 I can't believe how far it's come in just a few weeks!
Yes girl!! I call it "shop math"- it's the money you save buy purchasing something less expensive, which really…if you think about it, is money you EARN. So really you MAKE MONEY by shopping….shop math! Did I mention I am married to a math teacher?! 😛 he can't argue with MATH, right!? 🙂
But seriously, love the chairs, and still obsessed with the ceiling medallion. So pretty! 🙂
Love it! If you're married to a math teacher, then obviously you totally know what you're talking about with this shop math thing! I like to buy extreme-sale items at Anthropologie and then come home and dramatically declare that I saved $390 by spending forty bucks 😉
Thank you Tania!
Well done! I think you made the right call with black. I highly recommend a pneumatic staple gun. They are actually pretty affordable. It's the air compressor that you'll have to spend some cash on but I bet you can find a used one that will work for you at a steep discount.
Thank you Rebecca – I had doubts up until I dragged all six chairs into the room and plopped the newly upholstered seats on them. I'm glad I went with my first instinct 🙂
I will definitely keep my eyes out for a used air compressor – it hadn't even crossed my mind to check Craigslist (what is wrong with me?!) – thank you for the suggestion!
Gorgeous!! 🙂
http://www.davenportdiy.com
Thank you Emily love!
Oh man, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who counts the difference between my inexpensive choice and more expensive lust item as savings 🙂 These chairs look fierce in the best way possible. Also, dying over your sunburst medallion–pinning that tutorial to use someday!
Amy | Club Narwhal
"One DIYer saves $10,000 per year with this one simple trick! Retailers hate her!" 😉
Thanks Amy – love that – "fierce"!
These turned out amazing—just what the space needed! Definitely made the right choice going with black.
Aw, thank you Jennifer!!!
team black is def a winner! this is coming together beautifully!!
Thank you Trina! It makes me so happy to see it all coming together!
They look gorgeous! Everything is coming together beautifully. Looking forward to your review – man I would love one of those things!
Thank you so much Alexis! Spoiler alert: you *would* love one of those things! 😉
I'm usually 100% white furniture because I love how clean and bright it is. However, the black works SO WELL for this. I think white would have blended in too much with your fireplace, and we don't want that. 😉 LOVE it!
Thank you so much! I was so torn, but I agree that the white would have blended in with the fireplace, and then been too stark with the fabric/walls!
So, so elegant! You have great style, Brynne. I'm loving the room!
I actually was hoping that you would choose not to paint the chairs at all, but they look smashing in black with the cat-approved upholstery. Great choice.
Thank you so much! I think the original color looked pretty good in the room (albeit much more bad-vintage finish in person), but I absolutely HAD to use that leopard print and unfortunately the original finished clashed pretty badly with it. So black for the win!
Of course the cats approved; it is a big cat fabric! The black was the right choice. I don't think that the fabric would have looked nearly as good with white paint.
Yay! It's so nice to have my gut-instincts validated 🙂
The chairs look amazing! The pneumatic stapler is well worth the investment – you will love it, when the time comes of course!
Thank you Cher-Ann! I can't wait to get my hands on one!
Oh wow, the chairs came out beautiful! And the room is so chic!
Oh, thank you so much! It's a very fun, outside-of-the-box makeover for me! 🙂
I really think I will have to buy some of this fabric. So good!
It's amazing! I only found it two places online, and the Fabric Mill price is so good!
Oh, you did such a beautiful job, and I'm glad to know about Finish Max Fine Finish HVLP paint sprayer. Thank you for sharing this with us at Treasure Box Tuesday! 🙂
The black paint, the leopard print…love so much. Very elegant!
Thank you for linking up to Project Inspire{d}…will be featuring your lovely chairs tomorrow night (Monday 4/28)!
Love the black chair with the leopard print for your dining room. Very different and super fun!
Love the chairs! I am totally inspired! Can you tell me what the name of the black paint is that you used and the finish, its perfect!
Thank you so much Beth! I used some leftover Glidden flat black paint (the color was just a basic black they mixed for me) and the soft satin finish is thanks to Minwax paste finishing wax.