Before & After – Painted Armchair

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Do you love before and afters? Here is the Before & After Painted Armchair that went to Flea Fest fall 2015.

Several weeks before Flea Fest, a friend and I visited the Old Schoolhouse Antique Mall in Washington, Louisiana. Every year they have an antique fair and yard sale all across the property. We had a blast searching the grounds for special treasures. I even fell in love with a few pieces that I missed out on. That’s the fun in thrifting. You see, thrifting is a game. Sometimes you leave items and when you return someone else has purchased the item. I like to wait sometimes to see if I really love an item and in that waiting period sometimes I miss out. That’s just the way I play.

This armchair was one of those items that I saw but wasn’t sure if I loved it or not. It was in really good condition and strong. When I came back it was still in the vendor’s booth, so I bought it. Guess how much I paid? It was only $20! Not bad for a sturdy chair. I knew it would be a great piece to bring to the show and I could make a profit on it if it was done correctly. Here is what it looked like before the makeover.

Before

Before & After Painted Armchair, Before & After - Painted Armchair

This chair ended up being a pain for me! First of all, I had no idea what color I wanted to paint it. I only knew that I didn’t want it to be white or black. So first, I painted it Annie Sloan Duck Egg Blue. Nope! That didn’t work. I didn’t like it and it took forever to paint. In general, chairs can be a pain to paint. There are so many nooks and crannies that have to be addressed. But I was sure that the pain would be worth it. So, in the middle of prepping for a vendor show I decided to visit my local Annie Sloan stockist in Houma, LA. I figured if I went and stared at colors that something would inspire me. The owner recommended Emperor’s Silk, which is red. Hmm, well, I’ve honestly never used red but I’ll give it a try. Not sure why I never gave this color a try, but I fell in love with it. Of course, there aren’t many Annie Sloan colors that I don’t love.  Once I put the red brush on the chair, I knew immediately that was the color. And since I only had one chair, red would make it a great accent piece. When all else fails, use red! Thanks to Tammy at Nouveau la View Designs in Houma, LA who introduced me to the color.




Obviously, the chair seat cover needed new fabric. The padding was all in tack and in good condition. The great thing about painting the chair red was I had feed sack fabric that would match perfectly. Once I finished painting the chair, I distressed a few key areas, and recovered the seat.

annie sloan emperors silk, Before & After Painted Armchair, Before & After - Painted Armchair

One thing I did poorly for the Flea Fest show prep work was not take quality pictures. It takes a lot of discipline and planning to complete all your work for a vendor show and photograph pieces too. The main thing is making sure your items are ready to sell and that you’re ready to go. That takes a lot! I had lists for days for this show as well as unexpected things that had to be dealt with. But at least I do have one iPhone picture so you can see the after.

 After

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As you can see, the red feed sack chair was paired with other like-colored items. There was a milk crate with a red, rubber bottom that had burlap sacks in it. Also, the little red stool to the left was the perfect match for the chair. It was a ton of fun styling my booth and having customers interact with my curated items. Every single last piece that was in my booth was placed there by me. I loved it! Will I do another vendor show with this brand? You’ll have to wait and see.

Hope you enjoyed the before and after! Do you think Emperor’s Silk was the right choice?

//Crystal

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