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    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

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Upgrading A $1 Chair

August 29, 2011

This orange vintage plastic chair has been sneaking into many of my office-rehab shots lately.

My sweet, discolored gem.

Desk, with the new knob. Very cheap chair that needs an update.

It was a garage sale find much earlier in the summer that I paid $1 for (mainly because I negotiated with the previous owner to throw in a 12-pack of assorted Pier 1 votive candles). The candles I knew I would use. Plus, at about 80-cents each, that’s nearly a $10 value, woot. The chair, I wasn’t even in the market for and figured I could do without.

I have outstanding garage-sale-walkaway-willpower, by the way. Mostly because I have limited space and don’t like to collect junk.

Not that it wasn’t a great shape; the curvaceous form was all it had going for it. The plastic curved seat had great lines, provided plenty of butt and back support, and was a good size for either using resourcefully in the office (where it’s sat since the day it came home), or even tucked into a corner to serve as extra seating around the dining room table or to hold a throw blanket in the more-utilized guest bedroom. It’s flaws? Discoloration. (Very much lighter orange in the seat and back support) and had a tattered plastic edge, which I didn’t photograph in macro, but was just a little rough in real life.

Discolored chair plastic. Light orange to pumpkin orange gradation. That shading you see is not just shadow.

This was no molded plywood form, like you’d expect from a pretty-pretty sleek-lined Eames model. It was just a cheap knock-off that an older couple had enjoyed for decades.

The leg framework felt chincier than any high-end mid-century model too. It was plenty strong enough to hold me upright, but the structure looked inexpensively manufactured. Exposed screws seem to catch your eye at any angle.

Exposed hardware, brassy legs.

Nonetheless, I brought it home, let it take up space in the guest-room-pre-office where I had been hoarding most everything else that didn’t yet have a real home (and lit up a yummy pear votive, 1-down, 11-to-go). When I began planning Project Office, I figured I may as well work with what I had before going out and buying a new desk chair that both Pete and I would love. And paint fixes all, right? I didn’t want to bring a lot of attention to the chair, so I opted for a basic white that wouldn’t compete with the other pops of color I’m planning on bringing into the room.

The chair wasn’t repulsive, we just had to make it work to get by.

What better a time to try out the specifically-manufactured-for-plastics Rust-Oleum spraypaint that always catches my eye in the painting aisle. Plus, the alleged benefit was not having to use a primer paint, so paying an extra dollar for the “special” paint was still saving me the expense of buying a new can of spray primer.

The leggy legs needed a clean update too, mostly as an attempt to even out inconsistencies in the way the metal had been wearing and discoloring. An aluminum paint caught my eye, and despite there being about 10 different options for Rust-Oleum Aluminum, I went for the cheapest product and hoped for the best. Oh, and I can’t make this stuff up… Cody was howling in the background of the shot.

Metallic Aluminum spray paint. And the howling dog.

I started with the seat, spraying a light coat evenly to start, both to gauge how well it would cover, and to avoid dripping. I was pleased with the results, so I continued on with a second coat, which seemed to be all the chair needed. Zero drips, great adhesion, and while I guess I had hoped it would have been glossier (since one of those glossy plastic lawn chairs was shown on the spray can).

Out with the orange, in with the white.

Out with the orange, in with the white.

Also, I should note that there was no way I could get the legs removed from the plastic seat; someone must have glued them well at some point, because while I expected them to slip out or at least be forceably removable, they wouldn’t budge. It’s OK, I’m fine with the workaround.

Once the white seat paint was thoroughly dry, I wrapped it in a large plastic bag, leaving only the metal legs exposed. Upside down. On the city-supplied garbage can. And sprayed the exposed metal the same way I applied the white, with slow, even coats until the aluminum finish was consistent all around.

Painted the legs of the chair with aluminum spraypaint.

I figure accidentally spraying the top of the garbage can is no different from when people spray their house numbers on them for identification, right?

No one’s going to be swiping my robot garbage can now.

Whoops. Robot garbage can.

Dried, back home it went into the office, renewed, refreshed, and ready to take on post as our main office chair until we grow tired of it.

New old office chair.

New old office chair.

I’ve spraypainted plenty of plastics in the past without special no-primer-plastic-spraypaint, but I’d love insight on whether this variety has less wear and tear in the long run!

If you’ve used it before, let me know how your projects are holding up.

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DIY  / Office Space

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

14 Comments


Cait @ Hernando House
August 29, 2011 at 9:24 am
Reply

The chair turned out great, Emily! And too funny about Cody howling and your Robot trashcan!



    Emily
    August 29, 2011 at 10:12 am

    Thanks Cait!

amber perrodin
August 29, 2011 at 9:30 am
Reply

I just looked into spray painting our plastic lawn chairs THIS weekend! You’re always a step ahead of the game. Thanks for the demo. You give me hope that painting my chairs will actually work!



    Emily
    August 29, 2011 at 9:38 am

    Cosmic ESP forces, Amber. Good news is that the plastic-specific spray paint worked REALLY well. Two light coats, no primer, totally covered the orange color. So far, not chipping or wearing weirdly, but it has only been 24 hours :)

Elisa
August 29, 2011 at 9:40 am
Reply

Sweeet change! Love that style chair and you totally gave it new life — also glad to see I’m not the only one that ends up spray painting everything around me. Hah.



    Emily
    August 29, 2011 at 10:13 am

    Spray painting obsessivist, confessed. Why I never used it before I was a formal homeowner, I’ll never know. I somehow thought it was inferior to the canned paint.

Morgan
August 29, 2011 at 10:44 am
Reply

I love this! It has the retro look that just finishes the desk! I have been spray painting everything in sight too..it just gives everything a new crisp look! Question for you…I’m thinking about painting our kitchen chairs..would you recommend spray painting them, or actually paint painting them? Thanks for the inspiration!



    Emily
    August 29, 2011 at 11:53 am

    Thanks Morgan! Glad you like. Are your kitchen chairs wooden or plastic? If wood, I tend to like a glossy canned paint, but I’m sure spray would work too… Just be sure to use lots of spray primer on the lightly sanded surface, and anticipate the wood absorbing a bit. If they’re plastic, spray would go on nice and smoothly. More smoothly than most brushes at least. Good luck!

Katrina
August 29, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Reply

Sigh, I love spray paint. You know this :)

Chair turned out awesome! I love the shape of the seat and it looks pretty comfy. Nice transformation!



    Emily
    August 29, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    Thanks Katrina!

Kirsti @Living in Lovely LaLaLand
August 29, 2011 at 12:54 pm
Reply

I’ve been wondering if you were going to make over this little guy. Love the end result!



    Emily
    August 29, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    Thanks Kirsti! It was finally his time :)

Rust-Oleum Scott
August 30, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Reply

Emily, your chair looks amazing. It’s such an inspiring project. Great job and thank you so much for using Rust-Oleum!



    Emily
    August 30, 2011 at 12:48 pm

    Thanks Scott! Glad you liked it! Thumbs up to Rust-Oleum.

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  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

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