Table Scraps: Part 1

I really don't like to see such a large gap between my blog posts, but I kind of have a good reason. I actually made a list of goals I want to accomplish this year and I've been focusing on one of the top ones: refinishing a piece of furniture. Actually 5 pieces!! A whole dining room set. I found this very sad 70's cane back set for dirt cheap. I am kicking myself because I didn't take a true "before" picture of the ugly wood with coffee stains and all.

I got to work on the 4 chairs thinking that it would not be that hard. (Hahahaha) Here are the chairs after I primed them white and started to paint them black. I don't know exactly what kind of wood they are, but they are solid and heavy! I love the square design on the top of the chair and also the clover design on the bottom edges. This is what made me bring this beast home with me.

 2  coats of primer

2 coats of paint

Here is the whole lot of chairs. You can see the wooden table on the back right corner in the garage and the legs are behind the first white chair.

Things I learned during the painting process:
1. Don't paint outside on a windy day. The plastic kept blowing up into my chair legs, along with leaves and bugs.
2. An excessive amount of paint on the brush will cause drip stains that are hard to sand out.
3. Apparently, if you are using black, you should tell the guy at Lowe's so he can color the primer so that you don't have to use multiple coats of paint.

Part 2 will be all about buying fabric and my battle with gimp/trim.