Twin Cane Back Chairs – From Frightening to Festive

I acquired a pair of these cane back chairs for redesign.

From the online pictures, they looked like an easy fabric replacement and paint job. Oh, can pictures lie! The only good things I can say about them is that they were cheap and the caning was intact. The dirty seats desperately needed reupholstery all the way down to the springs. Be glad I took them off for this picture!

After stuffing these chairs in a corner of the garage for weeks, grumbling every time I walked by them, I decided it was time to tackle the elephant in the room.

Once I got the seats off and a coat of Zinsser BIN primer on them, I was a little more encouraged. As you can see, they were looking more cheerful already.

Next came two coats of a new paint I’ve been trying on the advice of a friend. I used Classic White from Farmhouse Paints out of Georgia. Unlike chalk paint, it requires no topcoat. And I love how the paint goes on silky smooth.

I’d seen caning painted successfully in other blogs, so I wanted to give it a try. It was surprisingly easy. I used a dabbing motion to get into all the nooks and crannies. The trick was working on the back and front simultaneously to keep the drips that squeeze through the holes from globbing up.

Then it was time to tackle the seats. Sigh. Gloves on…

The only parts of the seats I kept were the screws and the donut base. The zig zag springs were goners, so I replaced them with these shiny new ones. Next came a layer of new foam covered by fresh batting. SO much better already. Then I got out my new best friend, my Surebonder pneumatic staple gun, to attach the fabric.

I used a fabulous print from Spoonflower — my favorite shop online for upholstery fabric. Then I made matching piping trim for the outer edge of the seat and stapled that into place. The piping adds a custom finished look to the space between the chair pad and the frame.

Then it was time to put it all together. You can see one of the screw holes in this picture where the screws enter from beneath the frame. These chairs were missing three screws and, by complete luck, I had three in my stash of exactly the right size. Serendipity!