Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A Tale of Two Chairs

These two Ikea Poang chairs were quite sad when I found them on Craigslist. But even so, I saw their potential and decided to give them a new home. At $10 and $15 who could say no? We rescued one that was in pieces from a jam-packed apartment on State Street (that I actually had to visit twice because the lady didn't give me all the pieces) and the other had been the owner's cat's favorite scratching post. Needless to say they needed some help.




In fear that our cats were going to smell the intruder cat, Justin and I purchased these Dala natural upgraded cushions for $40 a pop from the Swedish empire. I love the creamy-neutral color and texture of the fabric which provides an extra layer of visual interest to our simple living room.


What we didn't love though, was the color of the wood, blech! We had experimented with painting another Ikea piece previously and knew that spray paint would do the trick, but when I visited my trusty home improvement stores, I didn't care for the light brown Rust-o-leum that they had, nor did I think any of the paint swatches matched the rich black-brown color I was looking for. What a great time to try out the custom color matching that Home Depot offers! I brought in a sample of the deep dark brown I wanted and in about 10 minutes walked out with a perfect fit. I used a mini sponge roller to give the wood a few coats and we love the results.





The one snafu that I wasn't anticipating was the incomplete look that the hardware, which was silver, looked with the dark paint. It didn't trip me up though, I stuck those puppies through a cardboard frame support and gave them a quick spray with black paint and no one's the wiser that they are silver inside.



Is anyone else an Ikea hack?

17 comments:

  1. my friend gave me two poang chairs a few days ago.and I was also thinking about painting them black/very dark brown.my chairs though need a new covers.they do have those foam pads but no cover! I'm thinking about red covers,I think they will look lovely when painted black+red covers.however I believe the ikea price tag for the covers is just insane.

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  2. This is exactly what I want to do with my birch chairs, what type of paint did you use?!

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  3. Did you sandpaper it before painting over ? Any specific type of paint ? I bought the birch color too and it looks awful on the lovely hardwood floor ...

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  4. I would also like to know what type of paint and how many coats it took. I want to buy these for my son's nursery, but I don't like the light wood color.

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  5. Sorry for the late follow-up. Here are more deets:

    Kerry: I got a custom color done at Home Depot in Glidden-Evermore semi-gloss interior paint. Because it was a custom color, here is the info you need to bring into the store to get the same:
    Base: EM6413
    CLRNT B F KX V
    _OZ_ 2 0 0 0
    384th 368 156 4 240

    Anagha: Yes, I sanded and wiped down each piece before painting.

    Anonymous: I put on 3 to 4 coats with a mini sponge roller.

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  6. a-did you paint the bottom?
    b-hows the carpet a year later?(stained?)
    c-did the paint crack?
    d-do you sit in them much?

    nice work! Cool post!

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  7. A: Yes
    B: No stains on the carpet. Just ensure your paint is good and dry.
    C: No cracks yet!
    D: No, I don't sit in them much but my cats sure do!

    E: Thanks for the kudos ;)

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  8. Love your cat.It's cute and handsome.

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  9. will spray paint work as well?

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  10. Hey there.
    I love your dining room chairs.
    Where'd you get them?
    melissadorgan@hotmail.com

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  11. Hi Jessi,
    I am thinking of painting my poang chairs too. I am planning to use Olympic Latex paint. I already painted my lack side table. But On lack table I can still see the brush marks and even after 3 days the paint is not completely dry. I am a little scared to use it for poang chairs. Did you use primer before painting? How much should we sand it before painting?
    Thank you,
    Latha

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  12. Did you have all the hardware? I can't find any hardware to replace a couple of mine. I do not have an Ikea store close by but haven't found a replacement for the hardware yet. I have these numbers...Either 120098, or 114847 or 120099 or 106567. I am missing a screw from the side of the chair that holds the seat to the arm.

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  13. Hello again, I'm please to hear that you all are finding this post useful! Here are my answers:
    Anonymous 3/21: I'm not sure if spray paint will work but my guess is yes. It wouldn't hurt to start out with spray paint and then switch if it's not sticking but make sure you sand it first!

    Melissa: I was lucky and found my whole dining room set at Goodwill. Check out my post about it.

    Latha: Don't sand too much, just enough to create some dust indicating you've gotten off some of the coating. All you need to do is roughen up the surface so the paint has something to hold on to. Also, I used a foam roller instead of a brush because I didn't want to brush marks either and it worked wonderfully well. Good luck!

    Anonymous 4/14: Unfortunately, the only place I found to replace the hardware was an Ikea store and the hard part is that they only have replacement parts when they find some in the store or dismantle floor displays or returned items. What's worse is that they don't keep a stock on hand, you just have to cross your fingers that they'll have the pieces you need when you go in. Maybe you could call and see if they offer replacement parts via mail?

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  14. Hi Jessi,
    Thank you for the reply. I finally did my first coat today. It was not an easy job, at least for me. I got the foam roller from HD. It is supposed to give a smooth finish, instead I got air bubbles while painting. I also added some Floetrol to avoid brush marks. Finally a small $1 foam brush from walmart worked for me. I can't wait to see how they look like when I finish painting.

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  15. I'm so glad to find this post! I've been wanting to paint my Poang chair the same color for awhile and friends keep telling me it wont work. I'm definitely going to try this now! Thanks!

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  16. Anonymous: I hope it worked out!

    Kelly: Go for it!

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  17. thank you so much for this info. I had a birch chair and a beech one (from Craig's List also). So I painted the birch to match the beech color (almost a cherrywood color). Followed the advice here with sanding first and then applied semi-gloss Benjamin Moore (Satchel color name) paint with small roller - it worked great! I did not take it apart, instead used a brush for small corners. Thanks for giving me the push I needed. My two chairs now match.

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