Here’s a project I tackled this summer.

Turning a pair of these drab, stained chairs:

Into these shiny happy ones:

They’re not quite done – the back cushions need to be attached to the chair so they appear to float, rather than just sitting on the seat cushions – but I’m happy.

I made a misstep when I let the guy at the paint store convince me to try this ‘it’s not oil but it acts like oil’ product that was both the wrong color and finish.  So the project took longer than I expected.  I found a new paint guy and ended up with an oil-based, glossy black paint from Ben Moore.  While I love working with oil, I hate cleaning it up.  Also: there’s no poly or wax on top.  A lot of the blogs I read recommend it.  Maybe that’s because the blogs I read tend to use water-based paints and they chip easier.  I don’t know.

The fabric is Robert Allen, found at fabric.com.