Thursday, May 9, 2013

Rattan Chairs Two Ways

      We have a little pub near us that reminds me of Cheers.  I worked there for a few years in my early 20's, and as the song goes, everyone really does know your name.  I don't go there much now, but every summer they have a big yard sale I can't miss.  Last year I picked up four of these rattan and wicker chairs for $15 (total!). 
      The wicker was messed up on one but I thought I could put a new wicker back on it.  Nope, not happening.  These were cheaply constructed so there was no way to replace the back.  Time for plan B.  I knew I couldn't sell 3 chairs, but a pair would work.  I already have a white wicker & rattan coffee table for sell, so I thought the white seats on these would go good with it, and maybe navy blue on the chairs would help them pop.  Krylon makes the perfect "Navy Blue" paint (this is not endorsed by anyone, I could only wish it was).  It took almost a can for each because of the breeze outside, but they were done in no time. I used the rest of the paint to do a couple of baskets, then poured some leftover paints into some old bottles my husband & I dug up to jazz it up a little more. 














 Well that leaves me two more chairs to play with.  I've only finished one, but will work on the other one soon.  I choose the worst out of the bunch to make into a plant stand.  First my husband had to cut out a hole in the seat that fit the size of the pot I had.  Now this would be easy if we had a jig saw, but we don't, instead he used his big reciprocating saw, kind of like a jig saw on steroids.  Well it worked, but it tore up the wood a bit.  Oh well it is just a plant stand after all.  Then I took some bright spring green paint that was laying around, toned it down a bit with some creamy white, mixed it up with some baking soda and water, and started painting.  It looked like a toddler got a hold of the paint brush after the first coat, but I lightly sanded it and threw on a second coat and it looked pretty good.  I used a fusion spray paint that is meant for plastic on the pot as a base coat then brushed on a coat of my homemade chalk paint on top.  Then some Deft wood finish and it was ready to plant.  I put in a sweet potato vine in the back so that it will climb up through the hole in the back, added some pink and white wave petunias and a couple other plants for height.  I think that it will look good once all of the plants start climbing and draping, but I'm afraid right now it looks like a chartreuse green commode.  So what do you think?

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