Chair Rehab

CHAIR Re-hab

The idea popped into my head while staring at my black kitchen chairs and their stained off-white cushions. I thought to myself, these could be better. I could make these better. They’ve got the right shape -the shape of fancy wooden chairs that I see in magazines. I thought that by just stripping the black paint off of these wooden chairs, I would get the chairs I wanted on the cheap and have a fun DIY project in the process. Which leads to my first disclaimer, if you are planning on stripping and re-staining anything for the first time, price EVERYTHING out. I did not and probably could have bought a whole new set of chairs for the same price I spent on all of the tools and materials. Second disclaimer is research then research then research again. I only watched a few youtube videos and felt ready to go (I was not). That said, I did learn a lot and would probably do a much better job next time. Which leads me to this post. There are so many things that would have been helpful to know that no one thought to mention. These may all be a little disjointed, which is basically how my whole project ended up going in the first place, so it feels appropriate that this article is too.

STRIPPING

As with all stripping projects, you need the right materials. Grab those heavy-duty gloves, mask and stripper and get ready. I am not going to lie, this is the worst part of the whole project. Prepare yourself.

1. The first step in this process was picking the right paint stripper. GET THE STRONG STUFF. I got Citristrip, and while it works fine, it leaves a good bit of residue afterwards so you end up stripping 3 even 4 times with wait time in between, whereas the strong (smelly) stuff will take that paint off in no time flat. If you have a few pieces to do like I did, stripping each pice 3-4 times was pretty miserable. 
2. Be ready for paint-colored goop EVERYWHERE. In my case, black goop. All the videos I watched were of flat surfaces (i.e. tables). Their paint and stripper came off perfectly with very little mess. Such was not the case with my chairs, as probably anyone but me would have imagined. I ended up making plenty of trips to Home Depot to cover my entire deck with tarp, paper and painters towels (yes, it was that bad). After about my 3rd trip I decided to also get plastic paint trays to scrape off the goop into. 
3. Dish sponges are your friend. Where your normal scraping tool falls short, your sponge won’t fail you and is MUCH cheaper. At one point, I was so desperate to get the paint off that I just grabbed a sponge and started to scrub. After seeing how much more effective it was, I almost felt betrayed by all of the DIY videos I watched. I can’t be the only one to have figured this out, but I may well be the first to write about it. 
4. If this is your first project, it will take twice as long as you think, and that’s if you can knock out all your pieces in one go. If you can’t, give yourself A LOT more time than you think you need.

MINERAL SALTS FTW

Everyone tells you to buy mineral salts or the post-paint-stripper stuff. Listen to them. It is so beyond helpful. Where to cover your ears? Steel wool. Replace with, again, a run-of-the-mill dish sponge and you’ve got yourself a much better way to get all that extra residue off without having to pour it back on the steel wool every 30 seconds. Why? Mineral salts evaporate quickly and steel wool doesn’t hold liquid very well. You know what does hold liquids really well? A SPONGE.

SANDER BABY

If you’ve got a lot of paint a residue left, go for the lower numbers on the sand paper -those are the rougher ones that will get off more stuff but will also wear down your wood a little more. Make sure your furniture is dry before sanding, otherwise it just doesn’t work all that well. If you’ve gotten most of the paint off, the higher numbers will do just fine. I used a hand sander and it was worth it, even if you have to rent one. 

Staining

*SIGH*

The worst of it is over. Staining is the best because you finally get to see your project come together. I, however, didn’t realize that stain is not the same as paint in that it needs to be wiped off after being painted on. So, word to the unwise, grab some painters cloths (the really cheap white ones), mix the stain well, and wipe off. I left each of my stains on for 10 seconds before wiping off (after I figured out how to do it correctly), all depends on what you want though. I also used two completely different stains in order to get a slightly more weathered look. I started with my grey when the wood is able to soak in the most stain, then followed with a dark brown and wiped off sooner. You should use a high grain sanding block in between stains just so that it has something to stick to, but there’s no need to be aggressive with the sanding. 

Seal the deal

If you never want to touch this furniture again after you’re done with it, do not use wax to seal your furniture, use polyurethane. I like the matte finish so I went with a matte seal, but there are also glossy, shiny finishes you can get. A fine block stander works well here too between layers. I sealed mine 3 times since kitchen chairs get used quite a bit, but that’s your call!

Conclusion

My last tip? Plan everything out. My project lasted MONTHS because I didn’t plan and I paid for it, both monetarily and mentally. Unforeseen issues I had were simply that stripper dries if you take too long to scrape it off and paint dries when you leave it on brushes. If the stripper dries, you have to re-apply. If stain dries, you have to buy new brushes. All the little things that you have to buy add up, and if you string out your project like I did, you’ll end up spending much more than you have to. Would I have done it in one go if I had the time? Of course. Did I have the time? Not really (because who ever really has spare time anyways?). Could I have planned out the time? Probably.

I hope this helps your in your DIY endeavors, I’d like to see this as a more supplemental advice piece rather than a how-to, so do with it what you will.

But just remember, SPONGES ARE MAGIC.