Light and Airy Rocking Chair-y

 

This vintage wooden rocking chair used to be dark and dreary but now is light and airy. Perfect for a sweet little girl.

The customer brought this vintage rocking chair to have it made over in fresh white for a little soon to be born granddaughter as a Christmas gift.

Like most vintage pieces there was lots of wear and tear on the chair. It also looked like it had been stained after years of service in a dark stain with thick shellac finish. 

NOTE to all painters/customers: A solid white coat will enhance any imperfections in the wood.

All the dings, bangs, and wear will be emphasized with no distressing or aging finishes like dark wax to embrace the "character" of the wood. 

If a flawless finish was the goal, this chair would require hours of sanding after stripping the old finish to erase all the wear and tear. Chairs especially ones with detailed spindles take lots of time to hand paint as well so be prepared when you choose this finish on vintage wood spindle chairs.

First important step is to deep clean the project. I like to use Dixie Belle white lightning cleaner mixed in a bucket of warm water with a scrub brush  wearing rubber gloves to get EVERY surface clean. Then rinse well with clean water, wipe with a towel and allow to dry fully.

To smooth the sharp edges and larger dings, the chair was sanded with a medium grit RAD pad by SurfPrep. The sanding dust wipes easily with a damp cloth now that it has been cleaned.

Using my handy carbide scraper from Richard tools I removed many of the shellac drips on the underside of the chair as they will show once painted. Of course there are always a few that get missed until the white paint reveals them.

The underside of the chair showed various patches of stains, paint and shellac so I sanded it down with an orbital power sander as it will not be painted. 

It is my preference not to paint the underside of a chair that is to have a solid finish but rather enhance the solid wood in a natural look. (more steps to follow later)

To prevent bleed thru when going from a dark wood finish to painted white I brushed on Dixie Belle BOSS with a Dixie Belle premium chip brush. BOSS stops bleed thru, odors and stains and comes in white, grey and clear.

This is coat number 1 on.

The customer requested the front edge be sanded rounder and while I had it outside power sanding, the seat was also power sanded as the marks and dings really showed up with the white BOSS.

A screw had been added thru the seat into the frame over its lifetime so I I filled it with Dixie Belle mud and power sanded even more to try and lessen the seat marks.

The seat was painted again with a coat of white Dixie Belle BOSS.

which was followed by a second coat to all and left to dry at least 24 hours.

Here is the chair underside after all the power sanding a few days back.

Fluff; a warm yet soft white from the original Dixie Belle Paint line was chosen for the body color. You can see the difference compared to bright white on the far right spindle. It was hand brushed on using a flat medium Dixie Belle synthetic brush. This size brush works well for spindles, narrow edges and the flat surfaces too.

HERE are more fluff projects

The entire rocker has a soft warm white update but lets add some pizzazz.

The customer loved the stencil used on the clay painted tulip vase I recently did so the headrest was done using the same floral design in the delicate lace Dixie Belle silk screen stencil. The same salt water Dixie Belle silk mineral paint was applied to the self sticking stencil (L) using the provided paint scraper (R).

The stencil was cleaned and repositioned to match on each side of the first one covering the entire headrest.

It is so pretty and delicate but adds allot of charm to the chair. 

The fluff color was also intentionally not brushed into all crevices and character marks. This subtle tone on tone of the paint job and stencil add some dimension to the solid paint finish.

The original mineral paint line has a very flat sheen so to add a bit of durability and sheen original Dixie Belle's best dang wax was brushed in using my dedicated for clear wax Dixie Belle best dang brush.

Dixie Belle easy peasy spray wax was sprayed on all the curvy spindles as an easier method of application then brushed with the same handy wax brush.

The last step to the bare wood underside is to rehydrate it with Dixie Belle Big Mama’s Butta. I have a dedicated Dixie Belle La Petite brush for my butta's too. Suzanne's garden scent adds a lovely rose smell to the chair too.

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Reminder once you paint a piece areas that were dinged will show and it seems I missed this banged up spindle. 

It drove me crazy so I wood filled it and when dry sanded to the shape and repeated the steps above. Much better!

UPDATE: When the customer picked up the chair she brought along a sweet little pillow she ordered and a pink crocheted afghan that will both go with the rocker as part of the gift. It is adorable for sure!

Links to the Dixie Belle products are for your convenience. My affiliation with this company does not increase prices on your end, your purchases via my links do however provide a small subsidy which allows me to keep providing these free tutorials. Thank you!

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