New (To Me) Porch Chair

Thanks to Tania at Little Vintage Cottage I had this idea in my head of a chair I wanted to put on my front porch.  She'd inspired me to do this project and add a little whimsy to our humble abode.  Not too big, our porch is rather small, but a nice inviting place to sit in and admire our hard work, transforming our lovely little yard, from time to time.

So a couple of weeks ago when I stopped into a thrift store and found this lone sturdy oak kitchen chair for $7.99 I knew it would be perfect for what I had envisioned.  My youngest was with me at the time and the look on her face when I got all excited about this chair told me she really thought I'd just lost another one of my marbles.  In spite of her reservations we left the store with it and I was tickled.

I finally got a chance to work on it last week in between rainstorms.  I grabbed a can of gloss black interior/exterior spray paint I bought for $1.99 and my handy dandy well used dollar store shower curtain and got to work.  First I used my power sander and some sandpaper to remove the finish.  It was the original finish and came off pretty easily.  I took the paper off the sander and used it to sand the spots by hand I couldn't reach with the tool.

Glamour shot!

I only had about a 20 minute window of sunshine to work in
with black clouds on the horizon.

I vacuumed it clean and then wiped it all down with a damp cloth.  On the drop cloth I painted the bottom side first.  Then set it upright and painted the rest.  Once dry to the touch I put it in the garage and let it sit and dry thoroughly for 24 hours.

The next day, while it rained once again, I sat in the garage and stapled a new seat covering to it.  I decided to use a fun print vinyl table cloth I found on sale at Fred Meyer for $2.99 to cover it so it would be more moisture resistant.  I have plenty of fabric left to recover it later down the road when it wears out too.

Next project is to find a cute little side table to set next to it.  

Thanks Tania for the inspiration! I think it turned out pretty cute.