Black and Gold Crackled Chairs and an Antiqued Green Arm Chair

I love when my beloved clients want to keep an old piece of furniture, be it for sentimental memories or just to upcycle something and save a few trees. Two clients had chairs they wanted to transform. Both were nice, solid wood, but had seen better days.

Jury Chair

The pair of jury chairs where definitely dated but were very solid. I saw a set of 12 of these on Craig's List for $50 each.  http://charlotte.craigslist.org/fuo/2946229121.html.   I think with a cool upholstered cushion on them and some caster wheels, they would make great game table chairs!
Both chairs needed to be lightly sanded and primed. I used a slightly off white latex, stain blocking primer.
The chair with the upholstered seat was to be green with a glaze. I used an interior latex paint in a eggshell finish. I used color 6970, Baltic Green from Porter/PPG Paints.
Since the jury chairs were going to be black and gold crackle I needed to start with a gold base. I used one of my favorite metallic bronze paints. Brushing on metallic paint does leave a brushed metal effect, but since a black crackle was going on top, it doesn't affect the finish.


Once the gold on the jury chair was dry, I applied a crackle size. It goes on milky and dries clear and shiny. It's what makes the topcoat crackle. Once the size was dry, I randomly brushed and stippled the black crackle paint. It's a bit thicker than regular paint, and dries slower to allow for better cracking.
Once the green paint was dry, I was able to glaze it with a chocolate glaze.

After the black crackle dried and the glaze was dry, I was able to add a polyurethane to both chairs. For the crackled jury chair, I used a latex, satin poly. For the antiqued chair, I mixed satin with flat poly to give a more aged appearance. Thought these turned out fabulous!