The French Treatment

What a gloomy week we have had in the Pacific Northwest.  It is soggy around here.  Hope your spring is a little sunnier. I am dying to get outside and plant some peas but it's just too cold to play in the dirt.  So instead I decided to pull out the staple puller and redo a chair.

I purchased this sweet chair a few weeks ago with the intention of refinishing it to sell.  She just screams give me the French Treatment, doesn't she?  How could I refuse.

As you can see the cane back of the chair was damaged.  I decided to remove it and replace it with fabric and double cord welting.  

I also added piping to the seat cushion.  It definitely would have taken a lot less time if I had skipped that step but I wanted to give it a custom look.  The fabric is drop cloth.

For the paint I used a gray homemade chalk paint for the base coat.  There are several recipes out there but I used non sanded tile grout mixed with latex paint.  I think this recipe leaves a nice flat chalky appearance but it doesn't sand as beautifully as ASCP.  For the top I used a coat of ASCP in old white not worrying to much about full coverage. 

I sanded heavily to reveal the wood and gray paint.  Then finished with wax.

I love her wheels. Y

ou can't have a french chair without a french pillow though now can you?

For the pillow graphic I searched the

Graphics Fairy's blog

for inspiration and found Paris and the crown in different places and decided to put them together. I used the wax paper method to transfer the image.  Go

here

for a post on several different methods of transferring images.  Basically just print out your design on wax paper and burnish it onto the fabric with a credit card.  It didn't come out as dark as I wanted so I touched it up with a sharpie.

I know it's not for everyone but I love the french look with the use of multiple colors and heavy distressing.

I hope she finds a good home.