No Strip or Sand Stained Dining Chairs

I wanted new dining chairs for my own home to go with our antique Duncan Phyfe style dining table I restored. Previously we had leather parson's chairs but I have always loved the look of wooden pressback chairs so this is what I chose to replace them with.

And I am going to stain them WITHOUT stripping and sanding!

I had 2 sets of press back chairs in my stock to paint, now to decide which set. My husband and I did a comfort sitting test and of course visual and went with the slightly larger ones on the left. This set also has 2 captains chairs as a bonus.

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I set the test chair at our table and the shape looks perfect

The first step is always to clean the pieces well. The chairs were sprayed with white lightning cleaner then scrubbed with a brush and water with some Dawn to get in all the nooks and crannies. Then each chair was given a rinse with clean water and dried.

A light scuff sanding with a 

Now the transformation step - walnut No Pain Gel Stain was wiped on all the surfaces with a blue shop towel

Wipe the excess off after about 5 minutes. It is that easy!

I set the first chair back at my table and it looks better but needs another coat of stain, this time espresso as I want it darker.

So on went another layer of  Gel Stain - espresso this time the next day.

Morne chairs got underway repeating the same scrub, dry, scuff sand and stain process. See the lighter finish on the back lower edge of the chair?

Very much love this new shade of brown on the chairs. Especially against this antique fold out dining table.

And I set it back with my dining table too. Quite a change up from the pleather Parson's chairs right?

Now to get all 6 of the chairs completed.

The captains chairs were last to be done but you can see the first coat on the left chair compared to original stain on right.

And when all were stained and dry the table was now a completed set.

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