The fun continues with the freebies from my friend Terri’s uncle.  Today we have a sweet little garden chair.

It didn’t start out as a sweet little garden chair though.

This poor thing was a little rough for the wear.  I suspect it was used in the garage as a workshop chair.  It had lots of oily looking stains.

Take a look at how dark those two front legs are.  They appeared to be almost saturated with some sort of oil.  Or maybe it’s just really greasy dirt.  I scrubbed the chair good with some TSP substitute (which is a de-greaser), and then I decided to just go for it.  Either I’d paint it and the paint would just all bubble off, or it would stick.  I was willing to take a chance on it sticking.  After all, the chair was a freebie.  It likely would have ended up in the trash if I didn’t take it.

I pulled out the second sample color of Shabby Chic paint I received from Bungalow 47, Green Fields, which is a lovely pale, pale green.  I painted it on straight from the can without watering it down.  I somehow felt like I’d need a good thick coat of paint to cover this thing.

I was super impressed when two coats did the trick.

Even on those legs!

I was worried that those greasy stains would bleed through the paint, but I only had trouble with that in one spot on the seat.  If you were being very particular about your finish, this wouldn’t be good enough (in which case I would have used the Shabby Chic Clear Primer first) …

But since I was going for a distressed look on this chair, I decided it was OK to leave that as is.  I specifically choose not to use the Shabby Chic Clear Coat this time around because I didn’t want to draw any more of those stains through the paint.  Instead I waxed this with Miss Mustard Seed furniture wax.

I could have gone without a top coat of any kind, but when I am distressing heavily like this I prefer to use a wax.  The wax darkens up those bare wood edges and makes them look more ‘believable’, like they have worn away over time, not just been freshly sanded.

Did you notice that I applied some rub-on numbers to my chair?

I like the touch of whimsy that they add.

In the end, this chair is rather wobbly and most people would feel a bit insecure sitting on it.  It will have to be more for looks rather than function.  But I think it would be darling as a bedside perch for books.  Or use it in your potting shed to hold a stack of clay pots.  If you are local, this chair went to Reclaiming Beautiful last week!