Vintage Rocker Makeover

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And we aren’t talking about Mick Jagger 🙂

This beautiful vintage rocking chair belongs to a client. She wanted the chair to look a bit more modern and to use in her new baby girls nursery. She wanted the chair to be solid white – no distressing. We were up for the challenge and got to work!

The chairs original finish was a bit orange/yellow. We presumed this was from the shellac coating that was added many years ago. Age can turn shellacked  and other glossy finishes this orange color and it really no longer resembles wood.

We love the slats and detail of the chair…

Because of the shellac coating, we needed to prime and seal the finish. If not – the shellac and old stain color will bleed through our new finish. This is definitely not pretty and creates a lot more work if it happens. I sprayed on two coats of our favorite primer – Zinsser Gold. This is a wonderful bonding agent that locks in old finishes, stains, odors and paints.

After the primer was completely dry, we lightly sanded all surfaces. This way we knew that we had a smooth surface.

Jennifer and I wiped down the chair completely – making sure all of the dust was removed.

We then added two coats of homemade chalk paint in bright white and got busy. Even though we weren’t distressing this piece of furniture, we felt that chalk paint was a great finish for a vintage piece. It will wear naturally over time, which our client was happy with.

We don’t know if you have every hand painted a chair – especially one with slats like this chair. We are here to tell you it is a lot of work. Jennifer and I felt like every time we declared we were “finished” there was always a part of the slats that we missed. We had to be patent and take our time.

When the paint was completely dry, we added two coats of clear paste wax for a smooth finish.

Right about here is when I had dark thoughts of keeping this rocker 🙂 Doesn’t it look great on my deck?

Thankfully, I came to my senses 🙂 I packed the chair up and delivered it to our client. She was very happy with her “new” chair and has more furniture for us to makeover for she and her family! In fact, we are picking up a piece from her tonight!

 What do you think of the new finish? I have a couple of rockers in my basement. I think I’m going to paint one of them with this exact same finish 🙂

We can’t wait to see what we are working on next!

XO~Vicki and Jennifer