Country House Accent Chairs in Primitive

Today, we’re sharing how I painted our country house accent chairs in Primitive and in the process gave two forgotten chairs a farmhouse style makeover!

Truth be told, I’ve had these accent chairs for the longest time. They were gifted to me from two of my sweet aunts years ago.  Honestly, they’ve been moved all over the house from the entry,

to the bedrooms and, they’re now flanking the display case we made into a bookcase. 

On a side note, can we just talk about how much our style (and thankfully my camera skills) have changed over the years? This old picture totally gives me the giggles because I swore at the time I had my decorating style all kinds of figured out ?

The Inspiration

Honestly, I’ve never wanted to paint the accent chairs, and over the years I’ve fully embraced their deconstructed look,

leopard like seats,

upholstery nails and all.

That is until I saw, this picture. 

While I love painted furniture, I don’t think every piece of furniture in a home should be painted, that’s just my opinion.  There is something special about the way wood warms up a space and even in a sea of shiplap and all things white, I feel like wood grain should be highlighted whenever possible. 

So, I put off painting the accent chairs, sure I would change my mind.

But I never did. 

In fact, every time I saw those chairs flanking the bookcase, I thought about painting them. Especially, after our new wall art arrived which gave me just the nudge I needed to finally take the plunge.    

As I’ve shared before our home is an open floor plan and at any given time you can stand in one room and see into at least four other rooms, which can make decorating a little tricky. 

Being that you can see into the dining room from the reading nook, I knew I had to find a way to make the spaces compliment each other.  And while the accent chairs left in their natural state weren’t bad, I knew they could be better with just a simple coat of paint. 

Choosing the Right Paint Color

DecoArt’s Chalky Finish Paint in Primitive is a color we’ve used many times.  Primitive is a very neutral color that can read gray or taupe depending on the light. 

We’ve used it on the DIY French Country bed crown my Dad made for me during the bedroom makeover for the Spring One Room Challenge . And on the desk in my office as well.

If you’re new to painting, just a heads up, painting chairs is not always easy.  It’s probably my least favorite thing to paint. I know it seems like chairs would be super simple to paint. But all those different angles and nooks and crannies can make them a bit challenging. 

My biggest two pieces of advice when painting chairs is to:

1. Use a good quality paint
2. Make sure you’re using the right brush for the right project. In this case, painting accent or dining room chairs means you need to use a 1.5 to 2-inch brush.

You can read the rest of our best tips and tricks for painting furniture here if you’re new to painting or just need a quick refresher. 

The Country House Accent Chairs Makeover

This what the country house accent chairs looked like after one coat of paint.  I prefer to use multiple thin coats of paint to one thick coat of paint because, in my opinion, the finish is smoother.

And this is after two coats of paint. 

Of course, I love all things chippy farmhouse, so I lightly sanded both chairs with 120-grit sandpaper.

You can use a coat of polycrylic or furniture paste wax to seal painted chairs like these.

I didn’t seal these country house accent chairs because I want them to chip naturally over time even more.   

While the subtle paint change is not huge, it definitely makes a difference!

I think the chairs have finally found a permanent home flanking the sides of the bookcase paired with the new wall art.  It feels like the space is more cohesive transitioning from the entry to the dining room to the living room.

Painting accent or dining room chairs is one of those quick and easy projects that usually takes a couple of hours save for the drying time in between coats. 

It’s also a budget friendly way to change up a desk area, reading nook, the look of your dining room or breakfast nook. Don’t let the challenge of painting chairs hold you back from a simple makeover. You guys can totally do this!

What’s your favorite thing to paint? Until next time, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo