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Home » Turn Thrift Store Chair into French Beauty

in Decorating· Furniture redo· Painting

Turn Thrift Store Chair into French Beauty

Turn thrift store chair into French Beauty..EASY WAY!!!

Yes this beautiful French looking chair came from a Thrift Store!! These chairs were rag tag looking when I first found them but I could see the potential in these chairs! Just look at the caning, the carved detail up at the top and around the seat area. I knew I could turn these thrift store chairs into French Beauties.

Thrift store dining room chair makeover

Before

Here is the before- These chairs were old and way out of date. The paint finish was an antiqued yellow blah color. Striped peach, beige and and green seat coverings were straight up 1980’s.

I swear I remember seeing this chair in some of my friends houses growing up!

These Thrift store chairs were just waiting for some love!

Old thrift store chair in beige with 1980's striped fabric

Thrift Store French Beauty Details

Notice the curve of the legs? That is French looking! Love that!

See the the little carving detail at the base of the chair. That is French looking too!

Curved legs on French chairs

Now just look a the cane backs all in perfect condition. The pretty carving at the top and down the sides just speaks French to me!

I could just picture these chairs all cleaned up and painted white with new seat covers!

Making over dining room chairs is not new to me. Remember these thrift store chairs?

Or my all time favorite thrift store round table and chairs that we redid?

The before Dining room chairs from a thrift store. How to turn thrift store chairs into French Beauties

Beginning the transformation

First I enlisted the help of this cute girl! Madeline, my oldest daughter working hard to help her mom 🙂 Madeline also has a blog, Eyes of Mad Blog and she does the most amazing baby showers!! Here and Here

Painting thrift store chairs and turning them into French beauties

Lightly Sand and Paint

The basics of this transformation was lightly sanding and acrylic water based paint. After lightly sanding we painted and then wiped off the paint in certain areas so they looked like they had an old patina to them.

I love the difference paint can make!

Remember these chalk paint projects?

My black entertainment center to duck egg blue?

Chalk paint entertainment center

Chalk painting my moms dresser?

chalk paint dresser

Then have you seen my latest chalk paint project- our master bathroom vanity? You gotta see the before!

Master bath makeover

Ok back to the chairs- The cool thing about these thrift store chairs, is that the oils from the old paint came through and slightly yellowed the white paint to make them really look like they have a patina on them.

It was magic I tell ya!

Sanding to add weathered look

To create an aged or weathered look, we lightly sanded them so that they looked like we plucked these out of an old French Chateau.

I am hoping to find some cool chairs like this in our Italian Palace that we recently bought and are in process of refurbishing it! Covid slowed this down quite a bit but now things are starting to happen!

We bought an Italian Palace

Here is my thrift store dining chair beauty all painted up. No primer! Painting the chairs was easy because we did not have to be perfect. The messier the better.

You can see how some the old oils have come through around the carved area. So pretty!

thrift store chairs turned into French Beauties

Changing out the Seat Fabric

I had to change out that rocking 1980’s fabric to something a little more elegant looking. I found this gorgeeeous fabric at Joann’s fabrics and had a coupon and got it for a great price.

We took off the old fabric and stapled on the new! Super easy!

Update– recently I changed out the blue and white fabric to a black and white mini check. Here is the tutorial and a video.

I am thrilled with how these thrift store chairs turned out! So simple! All that was need was just a little elbow grease and some free child labor he he he

turn thrift store chair into French Beauty the easy way

These chairs are really comfortable to sit in too. We have many Sunday dinners in this room with lots of family and friends. I think I have had up to 15 or more in this dining room at a time!

One of my favorite tablescapes in this room when it was blue was my Under the Sea themed dinner party!

Thrift store chairs turned into French beauties the easy way.

Parson Chairs

After we put the newly refurbished dining chairs back in the dinning room and oohed and aahed over how they looked, my beige parson chairs looked very boring that sit at each end of the table.

No Sew Addition to Parson Chairs

First, I simply took some of my left over fabric folded into thirds and tucked one end into the seam where the seat and back come together. Second, I brought the fabric up and over the top to hang down the back of the chair.

I decided it needed some “jewelry” so I scrounged around in my messy buffet drawers and found I had these old goldish looking sea shell napkin rings. Simply cinching flowing fabric with the napkin ring and tying on some leftover cording (stuff you use to make pipping) it looked awesome!

I have also used this cording to make this coastal wreath that I recently made and hangs in the dining room.

HELLO MY CUTENESS! NO SEWING INVOLVED!!

No Sew Add fabric to parsons chairs

Just think, I can change out the fabric on a whim for a different look! Like I did here.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!

(mine and my sisters fav saying…it has to be amazing to get 3 loves)

Here is my Gorgeeeous dining room all prettied up. You can read more about all the other thrift store items in this room here.

Update

I have since added a new planked table top to this dining table, painted the room white and added shiplap and added a large chalkboard above the new sideboard. The white drapes, bamboo shades that I found for cheap and black and white wall hangings have stayed.

There is always something changing here at Karins Kottage (formerly The Style Sisters)


This chair makeover was featured on The DIY Show off!
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thrift Store Chair into French Beauty

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Comments

  1. Casey says

    March 19, 2014 at 1:53 pm

    Beautiful! I especially love the fabric!

    Reply
  2. Elizabeth Jernigan says

    January 23, 2014 at 4:54 am

    Your chairs are beautiful! I love them so much that I have the same chairs! I found them on Craigslist and painted mine Annie Sloan "old white." 'Just getting ready to redo the bottoms. Only difference is that my chairs were that 80's pecan stain. Here is an interesting fact, though. I also bought the matching sideboard. Guess what? The matching sideboard has the company name, CENTURY, burned into the top drawer. Back then I guess chairs were not identified. So, I believe, your chairs came from a major, top of the line, furniture company still in business here in North Carolina. So congratulations! Good score!

    Reply
  3. Aniko Levai says

    September 9, 2013 at 2:02 am

    Looks Amazing! Thank you for sharing at Work It Wednesday linky party!
    Pinned:-)

    Reply
  4. Krista thehappyhousie says

    September 5, 2013 at 5:15 am

    Amazing transformation!! I love it- thanks so much for sharing it at Work it Wednesday this week!!

    Reply
  5. { amy } says

    September 4, 2013 at 1:26 pm

    Love this!! Make sure to link up to my Work it Wednesday link party today:)

    http://theblissfulbee.com/work-it-wednesday-no/

    xo, amy

    Reply
  6. Rebecca says

    March 7, 2012 at 9:01 pm

    LOVE THE TRANSFORMATION! Uh huh! LOVE IT!

    xoRebecca

    Reply
  7. Katie Goldsworthy says

    February 21, 2012 at 1:45 am

    Featuring this tonight!

    Come on by and grab a button!

    –Katie
    @ Creatively Living

    Reply
  8. Katie Goldsworthy says

    February 20, 2012 at 12:29 am

    Love it!!! Putting this one on my FB page!!!

    Thanks for linking it up @ Creatively Living!
    –Katie

    Reply
  9. AmieAnn says

    February 19, 2012 at 5:24 am

    What a beautiful transformation.. just love when beauty shines through! Great job! Thanks so much for sharing with the Pink Hippo Party.. can't wait to see what you share next!

    Reply
  10. Jen-CraftOManiac says

    February 18, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    So pretty, love the chair. You have been featured in today's Saturday Spotlight Talent Show. XO, jen

    Reply
  11. Camilla says

    February 16, 2012 at 4:53 am

    Uhhh! Hello! Beautiful! I need to start thrifting with you!

    Reply
  12. The DIY Show Off says

    February 16, 2012 at 2:40 am

    Karin – I featured your beautiful chairs today but the email notice I sent you yesterday just came back to me…sorry about that. Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂

    Roeshel

    Reply
  13. Shirley@Housepitality Designs says

    February 15, 2012 at 2:08 am

    Great find on those chairs..I absolutely love them!!..and the fabric..what a difference it made…They look like they came out of a very chic furniture store!!…

    Reply
  14. Sue says

    February 14, 2012 at 2:48 pm

    This new look on the chairs is so fresh and up-to-date! They look great. 🙂

    Reply
  15. Carolyn says

    February 14, 2012 at 2:43 am

    The chairs look great in your beautiful dining room!

    Carolyn

    Reply
  16. Stuff and Nonsense says

    February 14, 2012 at 2:41 am

    you sistas have vision
    to see that dingy old chair
    and envision what it could be

    now so pretty
    in it's new bib and tucker

    new follower here
    via Linky Followers
    and hope you'll take a moment
    to stop by!

    alison

    Reply
  17. Jan@southernjunkin' says

    February 14, 2012 at 1:31 am

    You found great chairs to resyle! Love the paint technique! And the fabric is very pretty! Visiting from Boogieboard Cottage! Drop by my blog sometime!!

    Reply
  18. Cindy says

    February 14, 2012 at 1:10 am

    I would LOVE to find chairs like that!!! They look fantastic! I'll keep looking… XO Cindy

    Reply
  19. Joanne Kennedy says

    February 14, 2012 at 1:02 am

    I always look for chairs like these when I go to thrift stores. Sadly I have not come across any yet. I'm still looking 🙂

    Reply
  20. Connie says

    February 14, 2012 at 12:51 am

    Fresh and pretty as a spring breeze!

    Reply
  21. mONICa and eLAINe @ Decorating Insanity says

    February 14, 2012 at 12:03 am

    Really cute chairs. They look fab in your dining room too!
    xo,
    Monica
    http://www.decoratinginsanity.com

    Reply
  22. Jenny @ Simcoe Street says

    February 13, 2012 at 11:21 pm

    Love love love love love!

    I just did a chair makeover too, but these put mine to shame

    Jenny
    http://www.simcoestreet.blogspot.com

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. No Sew Dining Room Chair Makeover! - Karins Kottage says:
    January 22, 2021 at 10:26 pm

    […] NO SEW DINING ROOM CHAIR MAKEOVER I love this trick of using a little fabric and tucking here and there to create a beautiful new look for minimal amount of time and money….who doesn’t love that? I have two beige colored parsons chairs and the other four have wicker or rattan backs with blue and white fabric that I normally use in this dining room. You can see it HERE […]

    Reply
  2. Decorate Dining Room with Thrift store furniture - Karins Kottage says:
    January 8, 2021 at 3:39 pm

    […] I shared my process of turning these thrift store dining room chairs into French beauties here. […]

    Reply
  3. Thrift Store Dining Room Finds - Karins Kottage says:
    January 8, 2021 at 1:27 pm

    […] I shared my process of turning these thrift store dining room chairs into French beauties here. […]

    Reply

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