DIY Painted Rattan Chairs & Living Room Update

Hello friends!

It feels like August just flew by! It was a busy month around here with lots of progress made on many projects. The biggest project I've been working on is fixing up this set of dining chairs I scored on Facebook Marketplace. Excuse the blurry photo; I have a bad habit of diving into projects without taking proper before photos, so I snagged a photo from the FB listing.

Can you believe I got 6 of these chairs for just $40?! They were cleared out of a now-closed restaurant, and I think they fit perfectly with the modern bohemian vibe I am creating in my home.

While they were structurally in good shape, they did need a bit of a cosmetic face lift. There were lots of little cracks in the bamboo that I knew would look much better filled in, and I wanted to give 'em a little color too. Enter wood putty and spray paint!

I started by unscrewing the cushions from the frames and giving the frames a good spray with the hose. I also took a putty knife and knocked off any dust, old gum (blegh) and other stuck-on stuff. Then came the tedious but oddly satisfying task of puttying all the little cracks and nail holes throughout each frame. Shout out to my fiancé Nick for helping out with this part!

One of the chairs ready for putty...notice the cracks and unevenness on the legs?

Here's the wood putty we used. And one of the painted chairs in the back...because sometimes I get so excited about a project I skip a step (or two)!

After puttying all the cracks and letting it dry for at least 15 minutes, we used a sanding block to go over each chair and we sanded until it was as smooth as possible. This part was also fairly tedious, but made much more enjoyable by listening to Michelle Obama's podcast (so good!).

Then, it was time to paint! (Err, re-paint for 2 of the chairs, cuz I skipped ahead in my excitement and realized afterwards how much better it would look with the cracks filled...oops.) To pull in the green from our living room rug, I decided to paint the chairs with Rust-oleum Moss Green. It's such a pretty green, somewhere between forest and sage green.

And two coats later, voilà! Beautiful moss green chairs.

While working on the frames, I also reupholstered the cushions (a first for me! Learn how I did it here.). At first, I picked out this dope black and white geometric fabric, which I thought would be a fun contrast to all the colors going on next door in the living room. Alas, Nick didn't love it and I wasn't 100% on it, so it was back to JoAnn to pick out a more neutral fabric.

Now we have beautiful new dining chairs and I am so proud of them! We will be getting a new dining table soon and I can't wait to see these babies shine with it. Full reveal to come...soon. :)

While the dining room is still in progress, I wanted to share some updates of the living room! It's coming together exactly as I imagined it, and I'm loving the calm yet colorful aesthetic we have going on.

Still planning to add window coverings and maaaaybe change out the geometric planters next to the window above the couch. And maybe add or swap out a pillow or two. But other than that, I feel really good about this room and am excited to move on to the dining room!

For regular updates, be sure to follow me in Instagram @casadelsoldesigns. See you over there!

xo,

Sam