What can I do to my chairs to make them look good?
Friday, October 15th, 2010 at
7:50 am
My mom bought me two wood chairs. My brother stained them for me to match my table, but they got blotchy in places and look awful. I’d decided to spray paint them because the stain was so bad. After I finished the seats I decided I didn’t like it. So now I have two badly stained chairs with black seats. What can I do to make them look nice so I can take them out of my garage that hopefully doesn’t involve much sandpaper?
Start with a good paint remover and steel wool pads. Paint on the remover and let sit for awhile (read the directions on the container). Then scrape off with a plastic scraper (to keep from gouging the chairs). Use the steel wool to get into grooves and last bits of paint and varnish off. Finish off with sand paper to smooth the wood. Stain them with your new stain-brush on, wait a few and use a rag to remove. Be consistant to get an even color. Let it dry, sand again to smooth the wood and repeat. Sand again and finish with a clear coat when the color is right.
Lots of sanding to do the job right.
you can completely strip the chairs and then restain them
You can get semi-paste paint remover, paint it on and when it bubbles loose, scrape with a putty knife, then with steel wool and more remover. Then you sand it smooth and apply stain of your choice. I would use a water based stain. Then either apply poly or varnish or many coats of oil, rubbing between coats. A lot of work but rewarding.