Mary Ann's Chair

Here's a fun little chair that my sister claimed as her own before I even finished it. She's kind of like like a spoiled kid, she whines around and I just can't tell her no....It was in pretty rough shape, so I started out like I always do..  by sanding it really well to get any shininess off  so that primer and paint will stick to it and be durable. It's all in the preparation. You can make it look good without prepping, but the paint will chip and scrape off if you bump it against anything hard. 

I wanted it to look really girly, and I think the polka dots, and red trim really did the trick. When I am planning a color scheme and can't decide what color.. I just start painting a base color, which in this case was the cream color. It's on the one lone brace that you see underneath the chair with some circle squiggles on it. That is all that was left of the base color after I got done painting the chair, because I covered it all up with the other colors- But it gets me started and then I can start visualizing what colors I want. How do I pick the base color??? Well,  I think I had a bottle of that color that I never use and it was getting old  so I used it, knowing that I would be covering it up anyway. It just gets me started putting paint on the chair. Otherwise I sit and look at it for hours!  

For the painting on the chair back I picked the little girl knobby legs I think, because I just saw it as a princess/dancer chair. I wanted something on the back, that was whimsical and free feeling. I love black and white striped legs, whether they are on stockings or bird legs, so that was a no brainier. 

I like the tuning on the chair legs. They really had a lot of detail for me to work with.

By the time I get to the back I have so much time invested in my pieces, but I still like to do something on the back that doesn't take real long and still adds interest. 

 Sooo.... Polka dots, of course! When in doubt just polka dot away!

I found the material for the seat and recovered it.. and the look was complete.  Before I put the seat back on, I applied 3 coats of sealer. I like to use Minwax or Varathane water based polyurethane. 

Minwax says to sand between coats but if you do, it messes up your paint job so I don't sand and I haven't had any problem with it. Varathane is the only poly that bonds to itself so it does not require you to sand in between coats. It is very durable too. Varathane is my favorite to use.

Mary Ann has a lot of my painted furniture so I really like to visit her home! I am thankful to have both my sisters, Mary Ann and Janet in my life. Mary Ann just begs for more of my painted furniture than Janet! Do you have sisters that you couldn't make it through life without?

 You know so many people say to me " I just am no good at painting but I would like to do it."  You need to remember that everyone started the same way...wondering if they could do it.  Just jump in and try, you an always paint over it if you don't like it. We don't grow when things are easy. We grow when we face challenges. 

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"I do not burn bridges. I just loosen the bolts a little each day."