BEFORE & AFTER: Rocking Chairs

For once, I have a before and after which is actually finished. Not like, "This is nearly done so I'll go ahead and post it," like I normally do. This post is a 100% certified finished project. Those are the kinds I like the most.

Many moons ago, Mr. B bought these rocking chairs at the spur of the moment at the auction. This was before TAH was really ours (ie, signed, sealed and delivered!) so I was feeling already overwhelmed with the "to-do" list.

At the time, I was - not going to lie - super annoyed because he hadn't really considered how he was going to get the HOME from the auction. I am sure you can imagine the conversation....

Mr. B: "Hey, look what I bought"

Mrs. B. "Bought? Um that's great honey. They look like hell."

Mr. B: "I know. We can restore them."

Mrs. B: "You mean I can restore them? Right. How much did you pay?"

Mr. B: "$15 for both."

Mrs. B: "Pretty good deal. How are we getting them home?"

Mr. B: "Hm. Good question. I hadn't thought of that."

You can guess that we developed a "no bidding without the other person's approval" policy from that point forward.

So fast forward and you'll remember us - very stupidly - trying to strip these bad boys by hand. We obviously chose the hottest day of the summer last year, worked out on the patio in direct sunlight from 12-4pm and made about 2% progress. Rookie mistake.

We wised up, thanks to my Aunt, and contacted a local sandblasted who said he could do the job but cautioned that the sand would increase how noticeable the wood grains are. We didn't mind because we wanted them to look like wood, grains and all, because, um, they are wood.

So we'll give Mr. B credit for organizing the sandblasting but I'm taking all the credit once the chairs were returned. I primed two coats which was time-intensive but was worth it in the end because it made spray painting super easy. 

Pre-primer and ready to go.

First coat spraypaint

So I spraypainted the heck out of the chairs - lots of thin little coats - and in the end:

Now that I look at that picture, I realize I tell a lie: We bought a small wooden table to go between the chairs (got to have a place to put your drink!) so I'll have to take another after photo for yall :-)

So guess where we spent all of Memorial Weekend?