I would never classify or call myself a thrifty person whatsoever. I like things new and knowing that there’s no possibility that someone has urinated on them. Basically, you’d never catch me at a yard sale or thrift store hauling a “funky” old/dated couch into the back of my truck. Nope, not me. I digress …

After randomly stumbling upon a few pins of funky coloured wooden chairs, and after witnessing in person the wonders of how a simple coat of brightly coloured spray paint can give something a major facelift, I decided that I was going to tackle a bit of an “upcycling” project myself. See, I have this old (uncomfortable) wooden chair that really has no purpose other than being a spare chair in the computer room. It’s probably about 30 years old and used to go along with a desk/hutch unit that I’ve since taken to the dump. Very rarely do I sit it in for extended periods of time (and when I do, I whine at its uncomfortableness until Kyle gives up the computer chair).

The chair – before – after starting the sanding process.

ANYWAY – I mentioned giving the chair a makeover to Kyle and he was all on board for my project. He showed me how to used the hand sander, bought me some sand paper, helped me pick out the spray paint, and gave me a quick “how to” for spray painting. After that, I was on my own. Really, I think I did OK.

The spray paint I used I bought at Home Depot and is just a glossy purple. I really wanted some kind of teal/turquoise blue colour, but they didn’t really have anything like that, so I went with purple.

Rust-Oleum in Gloss Grape

What’s nice about this brand/spray paint is that the nozzle was a multi-directional one, so I could tip the can anyway I pleased to paint the chair. A bonus for a novice spray-bomber like myself.

After a couple coats, I don’t think it turned out too badly! There’s a few spots where I got too close and the paint ran, but I’m thinking I’ll just sand those spots out and re-spray. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with my project, despite the headache the paint gave me. (Yes, I was in a well-ventilated area.)

You can kind of see the runs in the paint on the back of the chair …

Pretty, no? I’m not sure what the future holds for this chair now, but at least I know I can always repaint it in the future if I get sick of the colour! Maybe I’ll use it for a time out chair when Isla misbehaves ;)

Have you ever upcycled something? Would you do it again?