Who picks the color names for paint companies? Because seriously – Gilded Pesto? Good thing it is a pretty color, because the name is just plain dumb.

Anyway.

Brittaney texted me a picture of 2 chairs she found at a garage sale. $10 each. They were her mother-in-law’s chairs and crazy Betty was getting rid of them! (She’s gonna be really sad when she sees this post – sad and JEALOUS.) So duh, of course I want them.

Brittaney was “holding” them at her house, and Brittaney is not one to procrastinate – so I had to pick paint and fabric in a hurry once she mentioned working on the chairs. My husband works at a fabric store, so I asked him to text me pictures of gray-ish fabrics with a little bit of design/color. Poor thing sent me about 15 pictures, but none of them were doing it for me. God forbid I go in and look myself, right? Well, Brittaney happened to walk in at just the right moment, told me she found my fabric, and sent me a picture. That was it, I loved it, and I bought the rest of the bolt 2 days later (only about 5 yards, but still). I do not have any idea who designed or manufactured the fabric, but I could probably do some research and find out if you want to know.

Since green is my favorite color right now, of course I decided to paint the chairs green with a high gloss paint. I will just say that the dudes at Lowe’s were less than helpful, which was disappointing. We had some simple requests and they treated us like we were idiots, but we know we’re not and that’s all that matters, right? I finally got my precious paint, Brittaney got hers, and we were outta there!

The most exciting part about this project is that I got to use a paint sprayer for the first time! I’ve been spoiled and I just really don’t care if I never pick up a paintbrush again. Okay, not really, but for furniture – if you can, spraying is the way to go.

I primed the chairs first, even though I purchased paint that supposedly had primer in it. I just wanted to make sure it covered well, and sanding is for suckas. (I will only use Zinsser 1-2-3 Primer. It’s awesome.)

While the paint was drying, we got to work on the seat cushions. Did you know that an electric knife is a great way to cut through foam? My husband actually told me that when I told him we were working on the chairs! He’s good for something every once in a while. I purchased 1-inch thick high-density foam for the seat pads (the old ones were just busted). It worked out perfect. Don’t hate on the 1973 avocado green electric knife. You work with what you’ve got, people.

We used some spray adhesive to secure the foam cushions to the wooden seat base (the bases were in good shape – someone had redone them previously – so we kept that part). After that, we whipped out the staple gun (dang, I love that thing) and covered the cushions!

THEN, as if that wasn’t enough, Brittaney whipped out some pillowcases to use for some 12×16 pillows I bought to set against the back of the chair. She used a velvety fabric that matched perfectly – a pretty gray/purple/taupe color. She made me buy that fabric too. We have very similar taste, thank heavens! (I’ll let her do the tutorial on the easy pillowcases she has become so fond of).

After that, I screwed the seat cushions into the chairs, and that was it! Of course, this took about 2 days total (had to let the paint dry thoroughly before I put them in my car to take them home) but that’s not too shabby.

This has to be one of my very favorite makeover projects I’ve ever done. Thank you, Brittaney, for all of your help! I’m glad I have you here to push me out of my comfort zone.