Last weekend I tackled a little project. My desk chair has been this vintage (maybe antique?) chair that I took from my parents’ house when I moved into my first off-campus apartment in college. It was pretty beat up, but I kind of liked that about it.

Then my parents were visiting a few weeks ago and my dad asked “With all the furniture painting and refinishing you’ve been doing, why the hell does that chair still look like that?”

Good question. So I taped up the leather seat, and got to painting. Here’s a before (you can see a non-taped up seat before picture in our office tour):

I used a gray spray primer (2 coats) and a black lacquer spray paint (3-4 coats), using thin, even coats and letting it dry to the touch between coats. I did not sand it, as the spindles and supports would have been too time consuming, and the decorative carving would have been nearly impossible. The primer covered all the color disparities, but there is still some texture where the original paint was chipped (see: legs). I don’t mind it, but a perfectionist would have a cow. After the final coat, I let the chair rest for two days before bringing it upstairs (from the basement) and taking off the tape.

The leather seat was replaced by my parents years ago. Love the pattern, don’t love sitting on the nail heads. So I added this:

Loving how much more polished it looks, and I definitely am glad I went with the high gloss paint. I had considered painting it a color (and actually, it looked quite chic in the gray primer) but the black really balances with Ryan’s black desk chair. The sheepskin makes it actually pretty comfy, and let’s be honest – the bonus of having a laptop is that I do half my blogging from the couch anyway!

What do you think?