Turn Inexpensive Yard-Sale Rocking Chairs Into a Gorgeous Collection

The goal for this project was to create a collection of second-hand rocking chairs for our backyard patio, one for each member of the family. The chairs were all found locally on Craig’s List at prices from $10 to $40 each. If you’d like to create your own collection, here are my tips and tricks.

For the prep coat, I used some leftover green primer I had on hand. When I realized the colors I was using on the chairs were bright enough to cover the green primer, I was delighted to use it up instead of buy more.

At the paint store, I inquired about polyurethane and how I should handle painting these indoor chairs for outdoor use. They recommended using a high-quality exterior paint and skipping the poly. They also warned that the intense colors I was picking were sure to fade in the sun. But I went for it anyway. I can always repaint if they get too faded. I bought quarts of exterior paint in red, orange, yellow, green and blue. Additional chairs will be turquoise and magenta.

The intense colors take several coats of paint.

What I love about this project is, you kind of can’t go wrong:

– Almost any style of rocker would work in this eclectic mix so it’s easy to add more — for guests, or if your family grows. Wouldn’t a couple of child-size ones be cute in the collection?

-It’s a great way to give new life to old furniture.

– If a chair gets worn out (they are bound to, being left outdoors), it’s easy to replace. And you’ll have plenty of paint leftover to transform the new addition.

– When painting, if you don’t do the best job ever, it’s okay. They’re outdoor chairs and will be used pretty roughly. Mistakes won’t matter. These don’t have to be refined. I’d say only 1 of the 5 I have so far would be worthy of stripping the paint and refinishing — meaning, these aren’t heirloom chairs, you don’t have to treat them like they are.

-To save money, you could paint or stain them all the same color. I was tempted to go royal blue for my whole collection. Instead of buying separate quarts of paint, I would only have needed one gallon. And I think they would have looked equally cool in all one color.

A note on budget: I planned on $50 per chair, plus painting supplies. But I’ve been able to score on chairs, so it looks like the whole project will come in at about $320. Not bad.

Do you like them? Have you ever put together a similar type of collection, where you unite a group of objects through paint? I’d love to hear.