Antique Chair: From Sad to Southwest

This antique chair needed a refresh.

My client has a cool style vibe, mixing Southwestern flair with traditional antiques. This plain chair was ready to be updated to fit in with the decor.

Step One: Sanding

The finish on the chair needed TLC. First, I sanded off the old worn finish and smoothed out the wear and tear from age. Then I applied Minwax® pre-stain wood conditioner to nourish the wood and prepare it to absorb the stain. The dry wood sucked it up like a sponge!

Step Two: Staining

Once the chair was prepped, I applied Minwax® Espresso stain. The deep, rich tone was similar to the chair’s original color and would also nicely marry the two different woods used in constructing the chair.

Step Three: Chair Pad

My client requested a chair pad with a bold Southwestern fabric from Spoonflower®. I traced the seat to create a custom pattern, adding a little extra around the edges for the seam allowance.

Then I cut the fabric and sewed the seams together, leaving a temporary gap to insert a piece of 1-inch high-density foam padding. I added ties to the back so the pad could be attached to the chair before sewing the gap shut. For more on how to make chair pads, see my tutorial at https://serendipitysequels.com/?p=838.

Step Four: Decoration

My client wanted a bit of artistic Southwestern-style painting on the top of the chair using the colors of the fabric. On graph paper, I designed a motif. But how to transfer the pattern to the chair…?

Here’s a great trick I learned. First, color the back side of the design using a graphite pencil. (I used white to show up more sharply against the dark wood, but you can use black, too.) Then tape the design in place and trace over the pattern. The pressure of the pen transfers the graphite on the back of the paper to the target object.

Using acrylics, I hand-painted the transferred design, Then I covered the whole chair with Minwax® Polycrylic to protect the finish and the painted motif.