Sette Design: Painting a Chair

I forgot to mention in my last post, not only am I giving a Painting Class in Umbria, Italy, but I am also creating an E-Course on Painting Techniques for Furniture, Walls and Art that can be sent to you where ever, you are in the world. It will consist of little films, photographs and writing. I think it is going to be pretty cool. All I want to do is have fun and encourage others to have fun too.

I’m working hard on the E-Course, but it isn’t done yet, soon I hope. In the mean while I am still have to work and be a Mama and right now, as I write to you in my peripheral view there is a couch full of clean laundry to fold. The mound is getting bigger it might be a mountain soon and the volcanic type. The Italians are freaker’s for ironed clothes. I can’t get to folding let alone ironing. They actually iron underwear. Freakers I tell you. To all my Italian readers, you look gorgeous, I know.

This chair is my office chair and I always have it covered with some wrinkly piece of fabric and this week I had the bright idea to just rip off the gross upholstery and get it down to bare bones. I was going to paint a large bright floral but then I went with gold and white polka dots.

Sette Design -painting a chair modern

There were a million staples folding the upholstery down, so that was a job. But I drank lots of coffee and that made the process just fine and in fact anyone who came by wanted to pull out a staple too. Why is that? People intrinsically want to do other’s methodical work?

Here is what she looked like before.

sad before shot

The chair actually looks so much more modern in simple wood.

I painted the chair form in gold metal paint.

I put polka dots on in pearl acrylic and here’s a trick that you probably know, use the back of the paintbrush to do the dot, dip it on the plate of paint, dot and dip this way it comes out so nice.

use back of paintbrush to make dots

I painted the seat and back in off-white acrylic and then rubbed pearl color on the edges and part way into the form.. I wiped off part of the pearl paint with a wet cotton cloth.