Thursday, October 20, 2011

I Built It Myself - Kids Chairs

Have you ever had a project that you can't seem to finish?  That's how this one went.  I bought the wood and cut everything out right before I even started this blog, almost 7 weeks ago.  Then the wood just sat there for 3 or 4 weeks. I finally built them and started to paint - and I ran out of paint. So of course they sat there until yesterday.  I finally finished them. The thing is that it's a really easy project that should have taken me no more than 2 days to complete. 


I used plans  from Ana White's website to build them. She calls them $4 chairs. The cost of the wood really was $4. However, you have to add in the cost of the paint - unless you have leftovers from another project. 

Here's what I started with.


I went the lazy route and used a brad nailer to attach everything instead of using screws.  Make sure that you wipe up your glue while it is still wet. It does not come off easily after it's dry.


Here they are all put together.  If you look closely, you'll see that one of the backs of the chair is one inch shorter than the other.  One of my back legs was cut an inch shorter.   I don't think anyone will notice unless the chairs are right next to each other.


Next I filled all the holes with wood putty and sanded everything down.


At this point you should primer them. I didn't. Call me lazy or cheap. I painted them with Krylon Ivory Spray Paint and ran out before I had any good coverage. So of course I had to go buy more paint.  I should have just bought some primer to begin with.


My daughter wanted pink chairs, so since I had some leftover from her room, I added a little to the seat and back of the chair. This is the color, but I didn't want it that bright.


So I painted some on. Just on the top.


And then wiped it off before it dried.


It gave it kind of a white washed look.

By the way, this is not a professional technique. it's just me messing around with paint.


Here's the table that we already had that I built them for.  Looks like I need to do some more painting if I want them to match. 


So what do you think?  Do you like the pink? Or should I have left them white?


15 comments :

  1. These are great! I can't believe you totally made them yourself! Thanks so much for linking at One Artsy Mama!

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  2. I featured these on my One Artsy Mama FB page today; come grab a featured button from the blog!

    http://oneartmama.blogspot.com

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  3. Really cute! I love the pink washing on them, and I'm way impressed that you made them!

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  4. I can't believe you did these for $4! I built my kids a picnic table and I think it was close to $20. I would love for you to link up at my party: http://www.momontimeout.com/2011/10/taking-timeout-thursday-link-party-no-1.html

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  5. Great job on the chairs. Love them.

    Your new followers. http://thedesperatecraftwives.blogspot.com/

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  6. Very cute! You did a great job! I've been wanting a little table/chair set for my little guy and I love the look of this one... just might have to give it a try! I bet a table wouldn't be too hard to make this way either.
    {Found you on Tatertots & Jello's link up party!}

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  7. I love a good DIY project and you did such a great job! Thank you so much for sharing this at Taking A Timeout Thursday!

    -Trish @ Mom On Timeout
    http://www.MomOnTimeout.com

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  8. They turned out so cute! I like the pink!

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  9. Very handy dandy of you. Great post.
    DE
    http://whiteserenade.blogspot.com/

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  10. They turned out SO cute Rachel.. Love them.. Please make sure to link it up today to Project Pink Blog Day Via http://theartsygirlconnection.blogspot.com/2011/10/project-p-i-n-k-countdown.html TY

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  11. These are adorable! You know what my lazy tip for creating distressed furniture is? I have my 2-year-old paint it. It ends up looking perfectly randomly distressed!

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  12. Well done – it makes a nice change to read something that makes sense. Pleasing on the eye too. You have a real nice site. brad nailer

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  13. Love the chairs! I saw where you said you built the table too. Do you have a tutorial for that? I'd love to make the whole set! Thanks!

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  14. Awesome! I've see the original post by Ana and I have to say, I'd much rather staple and glue! Throwing a tea party for about 20 little girls and am short a few chairs... Thanks for sharing!

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