This week I was charged with breathing new life into the teacher’s lounge of one of our local elementary schools. Teacher’s lounges are often in a sorry state with battered furniture and cast-off coffee makers. Terrible considering that they are supposed to be places of refuge for the people we trust to teach and care for our children each day. Besides freshly painted walls and a new comfy couch, the teachers needed some cheerful seating for their lunch table. But being on a very limited budget, I found I needed to rehab the existing chairs rather than purchase new ones. Luckily the chairs were sturdy, graceful and well made, so all they needed was a fun paint job.

While most of the teachers at this particular school, and in fact in most elementary schools, are women, there are a few guys in the group so I wanted something that was pretty without being overly feminine. To accomplish this I used vinyl decals to create a reverse stenciled look, revealing a little of the natural wood (but only where it was in good shape!) while repainting the rest of the chair. This is a quick project with high impact that can be used in any room of the house and with any style of decal. A child’s chair with space themed decals and bright paint would make a fantastic homework chair for example!

Things you need:
Wooden chair
Bone Folder
Small (8″ diameter or smaller) vinyl decals
180 grit sandpaper
Oil based paint
Polyurethane
Paint brushes

Things to do:
1. Lightly sand the entire chair. It’s not necessary to sand off the entire finish, but you want to rough the existing sealer up in order for the paint to stick well. Wipe the chair down well to remove all dust.

2. Apply the decals to spots on the chair where the wood is in good shape. Use your fingernail or a bone folder to smooth the edges of the decal. You want them to stick well so that paint doesn’t seem under the edges and distort the stencil.

3. Begin painting near the decals, using a dabbing motion or painting from the inner parts of the deal out to help prevent paint seepage. Coat the entire chair with two coats of paint, allowing them to dry thoroughly between coats.

4. Carefully peel the decals away, being sure not to damage the edges of the paint.

5. Coat the chair with polyurethane to seal and allow to dry.