DIY Trash to Treasure Rose Carved Chair Makeover
In this post I’m going to walk you through step-by-step the beautiful transformation of this antique chair! It went from boring brown and worn fabric to a bright modern white wood with ballerina fabric on the seat. Perfect for a little ballerina girls’ bedroom!
Nothing makes me happier than a good find for a DIY furniture makeover, and I got a really good deal on this chair. That’s because it was FREE! I happened to be walking the dog one day and a neighbor a street over had put this antique chair at the curb. I decided if it was still there on the walk back that I’d carry it home.
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I thought it odd that this particular neighbor had put this old treasure at the curb because they have a garage full of stuff and they hold a garage sale every year. But, maybe they didn’t see the potential like I did.
The best part is this chair worked perfectly with the DIY Vintage Heirloom White Desk Makeover that was also for my daughters bedroom.
History of this Chair
Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company was a Rochester, New York based department store chain. Founded in 1868 and eventually being known as just Sibley’s it was the largest department store between New York City and Clinton Avenue. By 2006 most of the suburban locations became part of Macy’s.
I have so many fond memories as a child going to Sibley’s downtown. It was the store of its’ time.
Supplies
- Spray paint (I used Rust-Oleum 2x Ultra Cover Paint + Primer in Gloss White)
- Screwdriver
- Pliers
- Sand paper
- Towel or rag
- Staple gun
- Batting
- Fabric (I used a purple and pink Ballerina Girls print)
Is it just me or do you love to create a treasure from someone else’s trash?! It makes a project more interesting when you get to see the full effect of a good before and after project.
DIY Rose Carved Chair Makeover
To show exactly how much potential an “old” piece of furniture has, this was the tag on the bottom of the chair seat.
1
Remove the Seat
As it sometimes is with older pieces of furniture, the original construction has damage to it. That was the case with the seat wood. I really wanted to keep the historical seat wood but it was just too weak and damaged.
Have on hand a variety of tools to help you remove the seat. Sometimes they are screwed in, other times nailed in.
For this chair, I had to have my husband cut a new piece of wood for the seat pan because the old one was pretty beat up and looked water-logged.
2
Prepping the Chair For Paint
Prepping the chair for paint was the longest process. Since this chair was pretty old I had to use liquid TSP cleaner to get all the years of grease and grim off the wood. Then I wiped the chair down good with a damp cloth.
Whether you use TSP cleaner or a wood stripper, for safety reasons, always be sure to follow the instructions carefully.
The next step in prepping the chair to paint is to sand it down. For this project, I lightly hand sanded the chair because I had planned on using a spray paint that had primer already mixed with the paint. Before moving onto the third step, I wiped down the wood with a slightly damp cloth to remove any fine wood dust.
Note that when you sand wood, you are essentially removing the existing finish. So, before you sand your project, it helps to know if you plan to re-stain the wood or just paint the wood. Depending on your desired end result you will either: (1) sand with a fine grit paper to just smooth the surface or; (2) sand with a heavier grit paper to actually remove some or all of the existing finish.
DIY Tip: The lower the sandpaper number, the heavier the grit. Alternatively, the higher the number, the finer the grit.
Depending on the chair you are refinishing you can choose to hand-sand the piece or use an electric sander. One note of caution if you use a palm-sander or electric sander, it may leave marks on the wood (such as, if you use a circular sander). If this happens, just use fine sand paper and lightly sand out the marks.
3
Spray Paint the Chair
This was the fun part which was to start spray painting the wood chair. Shown above is the chair with just the first coat of spray paint on it. I had to use extra paint on the carved rose back to really get in all the nooks of the carving.
As you can see, because I didn’t sand off the old finish the stain is pretty strong in color. But, nothing that 2-1/2 cans of 2x paint plus primer can’t handle! Once it was fully spray painted to my satisfaction I let it dry for 24 hours while I worked on the next step. So off to the basement I went.
4
Removing the old fabric
While the paint dried I started work on removing the old fabric from the seat. Since this was an antique piece it was attached with upholstery tacks. I just used some needle nose pliers to pull them out.
You can see once I pulled back the old fabric that the original batting was not in good shape. So this too was replaced before the new fabric was added.
5
Attaching New Fabric
Although I did not get pictures of how I changed out the fabric on the seat; it was pretty easy to replace. Using the newly cut wood base I cut out new foam battling and place that on top of the wood.
Then I cut the fabric in the same shape of the wood base but I gave myself approximately 3″ of extra fabric to ensure I had enough. Then I pulled the fabric around the base, gently, and used a heavy duty stapler to attach the fabric to the bottom of the wood seat pan.
The only thing left to do was get the seat back on the chair and this project is complete!
I was quite pleased with the end result as the color matched perfectly to my daughters bedroom set. She loved the chair as well! I’m also pretty confident that she’ll want me to change it in a few years (or less) as she grows and desires a different look.
Were you inspired to DIY a furniture makeover?
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Question What can you do when a leg is broken off and cannot be fixed but you still have the carved back ?
That is a great question Michelle! If I was working that project I’d put small hooks on that second piece of wood (from the top carved part) and hang the whole thing on the wall. That way it becomes a perfect, decorative wall decor piece while still serving a function. It would look great in a kitchen to hold towels, or a bedroom to hold jewelry. Hope this has inspired some great ideas for you to transform your broken chair!