A Chair Named Lucy

Yesterday I shared with you that this would be chair week!  I will share a different chair every day (and I mean different!) ending with a reveal of the set with my newly refinished dining room table!

These chairs have gotten the best of me the last few weeks.  I have been excited, stumped, discouraged, annoyed, and even frustrated with them all.  But they have all taught me that design is a process.  Things change, evolve into the end product.  There are lots of layers to making something look aged.   In the end, I am happy with the result (but I really don't know how I got here!)

I am kicking off chair week with Lucy.  Lucy came from a garage sale where she was sadly sitting at the end of the driveway. I liked her shape and she was super-solid (which I find an attractive quality in a dining room chair :) 

I used the same process that I told you about in this post and she was glowing.  I mean, if-I-turned-the-sun-off-and-the-whole-world-was-dark-I-could-still-see-this-chair GLOWING.  

Enter stage left - the feeling of discouragement.

I sat on the color of the chair for a few days (ha!) and eventually decided it was NOT what I wanted, but it was a good base to what I did want.  I got out my brush and glazed her a bit with some black, and then glazed her a bit with some white.

TIP:  I have seen a bajillion people do posts about glazing and, somehow. when I went to the store to buy some... I didn't know what or how to buy it.  I went in asking for black glaze and twice, TWICE, they said they didn't have that and sent me away.  The third time I went in I told them that there are a million bloggers using black glaze so don't tell me you don't have any.  The man said, "Oh, all you have to do is buy the glaze and then mix whatever paint color you want at 1 part paint to 4 parts glaze."  Seriously?!  Not happy with the first 2 places I tried.  So if you go, here is what you are looking for (brand doesn't really matter and the small size will last you a long time!)

Then just get a little tester color of black or white (or any color) and mix it 1 part paint to 4 parts glaze.  I plan on doing a tutorial on glazing soon, but just in case you want to buy some sooner... I'll save you the trouble of expecting the people that work in the paint department to know what they are talking about :)

TURN OFF RANT NOW....

After a few hours of slapping on glaze and wiping it off a little more glaze....  

May I introduce you to Lucy, who turned out exactly how I wanted her to

Remember the vintage bird cage print I did with freezer paper?  Lucy was the proud recipient.

And while it appears crooked, I swear it's not :)

Her seat is a little plain, but trust me, when seated next to the dining room table I am refinishing... she is going to need to be a little toned down! 

It's been a long adventure, but in the end I must admit, that I LOVE Lucy :)

Do you?

Happy Monday!

Check out the completed dining room set here!

Partying Here: