Trash to treasure...

Over a year ago I found this rocking chair in a storage room at work. I asked if I could have it but was too late - it'd already been claimed by a coworker. Several months later, shortly before Jarrod and I moved back to Texas, I found the rocker again - the coworker hadn't taken it. I claimed it as mine!

I started sanding the rocker with the intention of having it done before we moved. Turns out it had been pained many, many, many times and the paint was very thick. It took me forever to just get as far as I did. I insisted we keep it and it made the trek to Dallas with the rest of our belongings. It has lived in our garage since we moved in almost a year ago...

When I read this post by Sherry and John and decided to see if I could spray paint the chair. I bought a can of white paint and a can of bright green in hopes of making a cushion and using the chair in our living room.

While I was painting, I decided I wanted to spray an old high chair that has been in our garage as well. I decided I wanted the high chair to be bright blue. Of course Wesley can't use it right now and I'll have to seal the tray with something no-VOC, but I thought I might as well spray them at the same time.

Little did I know that this would be an incredible challenge. Beyond just the challenge of it being Easter weekend and having a 3 month old, we had a stray dog I picked up living in our backyard and had the grass mowed this weekend also... Perfect circumstances for painting!

On top of that, I accidentally bought the wrong kind of primer and didn't realize it until I took this picture! 

 

Another tough element was that the rocking chair was sucking up paint. It took nearly 4 cans (not coats, cans!) of white spray paint to get an even coat of printer to begin painting with color. Two cans in on the color and I still wasn't getting even coverage.

On the other side of the patio I had the blue can going on the high chair. Because the wood was sealed and stained, the white primer went on much more uniform. I didn't get to prime the chair as much as I would have liked, because I couldn't bring myself to buy a 5th can of primer! Thankfully, the blue seemed to take just fine. I prayed about 5 thin and even coats before I was satisfied. It was difficult, like with the rocking chair, getting the spray paint in the tight spaces of the chair.

 I'm beyond thrilled with how the high chair turned out. I don't think we'll be using it for quite some time - it's obviously not "safe" as it doesn't have a lap strap, but I know someday Wesley will be big and strong enough to sit in it with us at the table. For now, it'll sit in the corner of our kitchen making things just a little brighter!

Back to the rocking chair... After 2 cans of green, I was so over spray painting. I'd turned the chair over and back more times than I could count. Because the blue high chair was done, I decided I was done with the green rocker. I'll probably do one more can someday soon, but that day is not today. Because the baby swing is where I'd like this rocker to go, I'm really in no hurry to finish it. I might even start on the cushion before I finish the chair... I'm thinking about using my favorite fabric from the nursery. I still have several yards left and because Wesley is a boy and has no need for flowery fabric, I figure the living room is the perfect place for it.

So there you have it. One fairly successful project that won't be used for at least a year and one not as successful project that won't be done for at least a year... ;-)