Rural French Chairs

Hello, All!  Happy Friday!

We found these two chairs at a consignment store in our downtown.  I had seen them the last time I was there but wasn't sure what I could do with them.  I didn't forget about them, though.  Oh no.  Some nights, I thought about them before I fell asleep.  Do you do that?  Think about the "I should have bought that" thing that you didn't buy but now regret?  That happens to me often.  Anyway, back to the chairs.  They were in pretty good condition (other than a small tear in the caning on each) and quite sturdy.  The cushions were pretty questionable and I knew I would throw them as soon as I traced the shape for later cushion-making.

The cushions were actually reversible.  One side was red leather and the other side was red suede.  Classy.

Here they are without the cushions.

I love the detail on the legs.

I washed them up and let them dry for awhile in the sun.  As I was washing them I found a tag on the bottom of one of the chairs that said, "Rural French."  The tag was pretty old and dirty and I couldn't read anything else on it.  However, it was fun to find and made me like the chairs even more for some reason.

While the chairs were drying, I traced those pretty cushions.  Imagine me washing my hands four times after touching them.  I know I've said it before but I can't reuse other people's fabric items.  Who knows what was on these.  Gross.  Same reason why I have a hard time sleeping in hotels.

After the chairs were dry I gave them two coats of primer.  I used Rust-oleum Painter's Touch Primer.

I then spray painted the cane part of the chairs a gray color.  I again used Rust-oleum Painter's Touch Winter Gray in their gloss finish.  I did two coats of the gray to both chairs.  After the paint dried I taped around the edges of the gray cane area with the green Frog tape.

I taped random plastic bags over the gray cane so that it would be protected when I painted the rest of the chair.  I did this to both chairs.  I used Rust-oleum Painter's Touch White in their gloss finish as well.

Here are the finished chairs.  I love them.  When I walk into my living room I smile.  Sometimes I walk in there on purpose, just so I can stare at them for awhile.

They add some much needed extra seating in our tiny living room without taking up too much space.

I love how the gloss of the white paint makes the details stand out.  Also, can you see the difference in the legs of each chair?  Leave it to my husband to point that out right away.  The legs on this chair are rounded.

The legs on this chair are more square.  Huh.  I didn't even realize that when we bought them!

All in all, this project was cheap and easy!  The chairs were ten dollars each.  Add in the cost for five cans of spray paint and you've got yourself some Rural French chairs for a fraction of the cost of something brand new.  I love how they turned out!

Have yourself a fabulous weekend, friends!  If you need me, I'll be in my living room staring at my "new" Rural French chairs.


I'll be linking this up to Miss Mustard Seed and Tatertots and Jello.  I love these blogs!  Love them!