Folding Chair Refinish - Easy DIY

I recently refinished a desk to make a Lego table (you can see it here) for my son's room and he needed a chair to go with it.  I didn't want to buy one, so I went down to our basement and found an old folding chair that was not looking very lovely.  It had paint on the seat, but otherwise was in great shape.  The boy wanted some cushion on his chair, so this would be perfect.

I popped the seat cushion off and went right to the spray paint.  I used the same color red that I used on an old school desk that is in my son's room, and I thought I'd have enough to finish this chair.  I ended up running out and had to go get another bottle, so I the first thing I had to pay for was a $3.77 can of paint at Wal-Mart.  I had to put several coats of paint on, which seems to happen any time I use red on anything.  It takes a lot of it to get full coverage.  

After a couple coats...I didn't worry about the seat because it was getting covered with the cushion.

I bought a yard of navy blue fabric at Hobby Lobby, which was more than I needed for this project, but it was $3.99/yard and I also had a 40% off coupon.  I put the fabric over the old cushion cover because I didn't want to damage the foam on the cushion if the old cover had adhesive on it.  This part took about 3 minutes to complete.  I ironed the fabric, laid the cushion on it, and cut around it with about 1.5" of allowance for folding it under.  I didn't worry about cutting perfectly because the bottom wasn't going to show, and clearly they didn't care when they put the original cover on either.  Next I sprayed the cushion with spray adhesive (which I had on hand already), put it on the fabric, and folded it around.  I sprayed the edges on the back side and also put a few staples (pretty sure I could have skipped that step though) around the edges. 

Once the paint was dry, I just popped the cushion back on and I was done.  I can now consider my Lego desk project complete! 

Before/After

 Desk/Chair 

Boring Desk Refinish - Lego Desk Fun!

My son loves Legos.  He has an insane collection of sets, but the problem is that once he builds them, he doesn't have a good way to store them, so they just get dumped in buckets and never rebuilt.  It drives me crazy because the sets are pricey, and I hate that he only builds them one time.  I've been scouring the good old internet for ideas for Lego tables, but he is almost 10, and everything I find seems geared toward much younger kids.  We rearranged his room last week, and I told him we would go find a desk to refinish for his new Lego table.  

We headed out to my beloved local Re-Store last Wednesday with our fingers crossed.  We wandered around, not falling in love with anything.  There were a few pieces that were just okay, but nothing we really loved.  Eventually we stopped and looked at a roll top desk (which was not what we had in mind), and the more we stood there looking at it, the more potential we saw in it.  It was $60, which was more than we had wanted to spend, but we were there on "Spin the Wheel Wednesday", so we knew we could spin and get anywhere from a 5% to a 40% discount.  We put a hold on it, and then went back later in the day with my husband.  At the checkout, my son spun the wheel and was grinning from ear to ear when it landed on 40% off.  $38 including tax and we were on our way!

The desk only took up space in our garage for a few days and then I had to get to work on it.  Below freezing weather was headed our way, and my husband wanted his parking space back. :)

I started by washing the desk with a damp cloth and then repairing a couple small holes.  I removed all the hardware (my son didn't like any of it because, and I quote, "it looks old fashioned, and I want it to be modern") so I wasn't going to reuse it.

Next I made chalk paint (I mix 2 tbsp unsanded grout in 3 tbsp of water, and then stir it into 1 cup of paint...other projects I've done with chalk paint here, here, and here).  I had the quart of paint on hand from a free offer that Glidden had awhile back.  I used it to refinish an old school desk that is aleady in my son's room, and he wanted the big desk to match it.  I painted two coats, let it dry for a day, and then brushed on a coat of polyurethane (which I had on hand already as well)

 for extra protection.  

Paint and Polyurethane I used...

With two coats of paint...

After Polyurethane

I ordered four 10"x10" Lego base plates from Amazon (they were on sale for $3.94 each) and attached them to the desk using Simply Tacky.  I originally planned to glue them, but liked the idea of using the Simply Tacky product because I wanted to be able to easily remove the plates someday.  I knew using craft glue would make that difficult and worried about potential damage to the wood.  I just peeled little bits off, pressed them to the back of the plates, and stuck them to the desk.  It was easy to re-position them and they are stuck on there well enough that won't lift off when he plays.

The next task was to find hardware for the drawers.  It took a trip to four different stores to find what I was looking for... modern, yet appropriate for a boy's room.  I found that things were either very ornate, or silver, or I couldn't get handles and knobs that matched.  Finally found triumph at Home Depot and it only cost me $11.51 for five knobs and four handles.  

As soon as I had the knobs on, my son went right to filling the drawers and setting up his minifigures, so I didn't get a picture before everything was added.  Here is the final, and much loved product.  This was definitely one of my favorite projects that I've done so far.

Kids Chore Chart DIY

I've done chore charts with my kids for a long time, and have tried all different kinds.  We had an online chart that I loved, but it was very easily "out of sight, out of mind" for the kids.   I got tired of having to remind them to check it, so I gave up and went back to having to ask them 1,824,626 times a day if things had been completed.

For the sake of my sanity, I wanted something right where they couldn't miss it each day, and also something that was by itself.  I didn't want it on the refrigerator because we have other stuff on there already.  I also wanted to use magnets which is why I decided to use a baking pan.  We have a small wall between our living room and kitchen and that's where I wanted to put it.

I bought the pan for $4.50 at Big Lots, the box of magnets for $2.99 at Staples, I used scrap booking stickers I had on hand, and I already had primer and spray paint.  I love projects that cost me less than $10...too bad they aren't all like that!

The pan didn't have any holes to hang it from, so I used a drill to make them.  If you have to drill, just make sure your drill bit is one that can go through metal.  After I drilled I sprayed on a coat of primer (meant for metal as well), and then when that was dry I sprayed the color. 

I used a black Sharpie to draw the lines on the pan, and then added the letters.  I used a silver Sharpie to write the permanent tasks on the magnets, and left other magnets blank for tasks to be added as needed.  

Not much too it.  I finished it while my son was at school today, and when we picked him up his little sister said "You have so many chores to do when you get home."  Based on his response, I don't think he liked what she had to say. Hopefully they enjoy being able to move the magnets to the "done" side and keep up with everything without me having to ask.  Hahahahaha!  A girl can dream right?