I had planned to do both chairs pretty much as is - using the chalk paint to refinish the woodwork and having the seats professionally upholstered. Since my pieces are all (or mostly) done for sale and I have no interest (or talent) for upholstery work, I do use the services of an expert - Mr. Lee of Song's Upholstery in Norcross, Georgia.
These two projects pretty well started the same way - a selection of chalk paint color and fabric. I am the lucky owner of the following great colors:
Old White
Old Ochre
Graphite
Duck Egg Blue
Chateau Grey
Paris Grey
CoCo
Before Chair - Chair Number 1 |
Chair with ASCP Graphite |
I found the caning hard to cover with the paint. No matter how hard I worked on it - I ended up doing the back with three coats - I would find areas not covered to my satisfaction from certain angles. I also found that I had pressed a little too hard and the caning was no longer tight and firm - it showed some slackness. The moisture in the paint and my pressure had resulted in lost firmness which did not return when dried.
SO, I decided to have the caning removed by the upholsterer and fabric installed on the back. I choose a really nice linen tone-on-tone gold damask and dropped it off.
In the meanwhile, I picked up another chair with a caned back and was determined to give it another try - this time with old ochre - the fabric I selected was a beautiful raspberry large-scale silk plaid - a less than two yards end that would just be enough. I selected the paint color to complement the cream in the fabric.
Slightly Smaller Scale and Oval Back - Chair Number. 2 |
TIP: If you are painting caning and are changing the value (depth of color) dramatically (e.g, dark over light or light over dark), it will be hard to totally cover the original. So, unless this is the look you want, using a color that is closer in value to the original will be more satisfactory and require less work!
The chair was dropped off and I got both back over the weekend. I looked at them from all angles and photographed them in my home. Here are the results - see if you can see the OOPS!
After Chair - Number 1 - with Fabric on Back Replacing Caning. |
After Chair Number 2 with Silk Fabric. |
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Love them all Gerrie, the plaid is my favorite even with the oops!!
ReplyDeleteWow, the paint really changed the overall look of the Chair
ReplyDelete